A man indicted by the grand jury for allegedly murdering his parents and two children in August entered a not-guilty plea Tuesday on the charges brought against him via criminal indictment last year from a grand jury.
Nicolas Holzer, 45, was indicted last October on four counts of murder and appeared in Santa Barbara Superior Court on Tuesday.
Authorities say Holzer called 9-1-1 late on Aug. 11, 2014, to report that he had murdered his family in their home in the 600 block of Walnut Park Lane near Goleta.
Responding deputies found four bodies with multiple stab wounds, and the victims were identified as Holzer’s parents and two children: William Charles Holzer, 73, Sheila Garard Holzer, 74, Sebastian Holzer, 13, and Vincent Holzer, 10.
The family’s Australian shepherd, Dixie, also had been stabbed to death.
Holzer had also entered a not-guilty plea last year to the original criminal complaint against him before it was decided a grand jury would be convened to expedite the trial process.
The indictment from the jury lists the same charges as the initial criminal complaint against Holzer.
A transcript of the grand jury proceedings, which are held in secret, are currently sealed by an order of the court.
Holzer is scheduled to appear in court March 10 for a readiness and settlement hearing.
“We may start discussing a possible trial date at that time, but I am not sure that we are far enough along in the process to know if we will be able to set a firm trial date when we return in March,” Voss told Noozhawk on Wednesday.
If convicted, Holzer is facing the possibility of a life sentence for each count of murder without the possibility of parole.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
