LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Judge Kimberley Baker Guillemet presided over Samuel Haskell IV's court appearance on November 13, 2023, after he was charged with killing his wife and parents-in-law.
The accused appeared in court Los Angeles Superior Court in a suicide vest, where his hearing lasted five minutes. His arraignment was pushed back to December 8. The Hollywood agent's son can face the death penalty if convicted, reported the Daily Mail.
The alleged victims, Haskell's wife Mei, 37, and her parents YanXiang Wang, 64, and Gaoshan Li, 72, lived with the accused in Tarzana, along with Samuel and Mei's three children.
During the brief hearing, there was no mention of whether the body of the missing persons had been found.
What did Judge Kimberley Baker Guillemet observe in court?
Haskell, 35, was ordered by Judge Guillemet to be held without bond. The latter allowed a photographer inside the courtroom but later stated that pictures could not show Haskell's face.
Guillemet stood by her orders related to photographs even after Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman argued that it had already been shown in news articles and social media.
While announcing the charges against the accused, District Attorney George Gascon said, "These shocking and gruesome crimes have sent shockwaves through our community. We stand with the victims' loved ones during this unimaginably difficult time and will do everything in our power to ensure justice is served."
Samuel Haskell allegedly hired laborers to depose body parts
Prosecutors claimed that Haskell hired four laborers to remove black trash bags from his residence on the day after he allegedly killed his victims.
A worker said he was paid $500 to remove three large trash bags, which Haskell first said were filled with rocks.
“When we picked up the bags, we could tell they weren't rocks," he told NBC LA.
Feeling suspicious, they stopped on their way to look inside.
"I started seeing body parts, a belly button. I was astonished. Of course, I felt bad. We had been tricked.”
The workers returned the bags to Haskell and said that they did not want to get involved when the accused tried to pass the body parts off as Halloween props.
