The trial for triple-murder suspect Pierre Haobsh continued Friday in Santa Barbara County Superior Court and included testimonies from Detective Jeff McDonald and Sgt. Travis Henderson.
Parts of McDonald’s four-hour interrogation with Haobsh also were shown to the court on Friday.
Hoabsh is accused of the 2016 murders of Dr. Weidong “Henry” Han, 57; his wife, Huijie “Jennie” Yu, 29; and their 5-year-old daughter, Emily Han.
Han was the founder of the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic and, according to investigators, he and Haobsh were business associates.
When Han missed meetings, friends and business associates alerted authorities, and Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies conducted a welfare check on March 23, 2016, during which they discovered the three victims’ bodies wrapped in plastic wrap and duct tape in the family’s garage at 4640 Green Hill Way near Goleta.
Haobsh, 31, is facing three first-degree murder charges with special allegations that the murders were willful, premeditated and deliberate; committed by means of lying in wait; and committed for financial gain.
According to investigators, Haobsh allegedly murdered Han in order to steal $20 million from him, which Thomas Direda, a friend of Haobsh, testified that Haobsh said he could access through Han’s phone.
McDonald’s March 25, 2016, interview with Haobsh, which was shown to the court Friday, depicts McDonald trying to get Haobsh to confess to the three murders, which Hoabsh initially denied, claiming he was being framed.
Haobsh later talked about the murders in hypotheticals.
“If I did do this, hypothetically, nobody felt anything or heard anything,” Haobsh said, implying that the victims would have been sleeping.
During cross examination, public defender Christine Voss pointed out that McDonald had lied to Haobsh multiple times throughout the interview in order to get a confession.
For example, McDonald said Haobsh couldn’t have had dinner with Han on a certain night because Han’s neighbor Don Goldberg said he had a dinner party with Han that night. McDonald confirmed to Voss that Goldberg had never said that to him.
Additionally, in an attempt to get Haobsh to confess, McDonald was telling him how “great life in prison could be.”
McDonald also confirmed that there was no evidence of Han having $20 million in his bank account.
During Henderson’s testimony, he and prosecutors went through photos of evidence found in Haobsh’s vehicle, including two guns, two iPhones wrapped in tin foil that were confirmed to belong to Han and Yu, and several power tools.
Surveillance footage from Arizona Firearms on March 19, 2016, also showed Haobsh purchasing what Henderson said was a 9mm Glock handgun, a Ruger .22-caliber Mach III handgun and three boxes of ammunition.
A Home Depot receipt found in Haobsh’s car included the power tools found in the vehicle, and clear plastic sheeting and 3M duct tape, both of which were found in the victims’ residence.
The bench trial being heard by Judge Brian Hill, which does not have a jury, is scheduled to continue with more testimony on Monday.
— Noozhawk staff writer Serena Guentz can be reached at sguentz@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.