The worst mass murderer in Orange County history will not face execution, a superior court judge ruled Friday, Aug. 18.

In a rare decision, Judge Thomas Goethals took the death penalty off the table for confessed killer Scott Evans Dekraai, 47, citing misconduct by local prosecutors and sheriff’s officials. Dekraai pleaded guilty to killing eight people and wounding another in an October 2011 shooting spree at a Seal Beach salon.

“This court finds the prosecution team is unable or unwilling” to provide the evidence to ensure Dekraai would get a fair penalty trial, Goethals said.

The judge added it would have been “unconscionable and perhaps even cowardly” not to sanction local prosecutors and sheriff’s deputies for improperly using jailhouse informants and hiding evidence, causing him to consider a decision that had once been “unthinkable.”

Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals reads a portion of his ruling which takes the death penalty off the table for confessed killer Scott Evans Dekraai, 47, because he concluded law enforcement would not ensure the defendant a fair penalty trial, on Friday, August 18, 2017 in Santa Ana. Dekraai pleaded guilty to killing eight people and wounding another in an October 2011 shooting spree at a Seal Beach salon. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Deputy Attorney General Michael T. Murphy, right, bows his head as he listens while Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals reads a portion of his ruling in which he takes the death penalty off the table for confessed killer Scott Evans Dekraai, 47, on Friday, August 18, 2017 in Santa Ana. Goethals concluded law enforcement would not ensure the defendant a fair penalty trial. Dekraai pleaded guilty to killing eight people and wounding another in an October 2011 shooting spree at a Seal Beach salon. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Scott Dekraai, left, and his attorney Scott Sanders listen as Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals reads a portion of his ruling which takes the death penalty off the table for confessed killer Dekraai because he concluded law enforcement would not ensure the defendant a fair penalty trial, on Friday, August 18, 2017 in Santa Ana. Dekraai pleaded guilty to killing eight people and wounding another in an October 2011 shooting spree at a Seal Beach salon. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Scott Dekraai, 47, is led to his seat beside his attorney, Scott Sanders, right, in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana on Friday, August 18, 2017. In a ruling, Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals took the death penalty off the table for the confessed killer because he concluded law enforcement would not ensure the defendant a fair penalty trial. Dekraai pleaded guilty to killing eight people and wounding another in an October 2011 shooting spree at a Seal Beach salon. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals reads a portion of his ruling which takes the death penalty off the table for confessed killer Scott Evans Dekraai, 47, because he concluded law enforcement would not ensure the defendant a fair penalty trial, on Friday, August 18, 2017 in Santa Ana. Dekraai pleaded guilty to killing eight people and wounding another in an October 2011 shooting spree at a Seal Beach salon. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Scott Dekraai, left, looks at his attorney Scott Sanders moments after Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals read a portion of his ruling in which the death penalty was taken off the table for confessed killer Dekraai because he concluded law enforcement would not ensure the defendant a fair penalty trial, on Friday, August 18, 2017 in Santa Ana. Dekraai pleaded guilty to killing eight people and wounding another in an October 2011 shooting spree at a Seal Beach salon. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Paul Wilson, the husband of Christy Lynn Wilson, a manicurist killed at Salon Meritage in 2011, wears a photograph button as he speaks to the media at Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana on Friday, August 18, 2017, following a ruling by Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals who took the death penalty off the table for the confessed killer Scott Dekraai. Dekraai pleaded guilty to killing eight people and wounding another in an October 2011 shooting spree at a Seal Beach salon. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Paul Wilson, the husband of Christy Lynn Wilson, a manicurist killed at Salon Meritage in 2011, wears a photograph button as he speaks to the media at Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana on Friday, August 18, 2017, following a ruling by Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals who took the death penalty off the table for the confessed killer Scott Dekraai. Dekraai pleaded guilty to killing eight people and wounding another in an October 2011 shooting spree at a Seal Beach salon. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Paul Wilson, left, stands with Bethany Webb, whose sister, Laura Webb, was killed at Salon Meritage in 2011, as she speaks to the media at Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana on Friday, August 18, 2017. Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals took the death penalty off the table for the confessed killer Scott Dekraai. Wilson’s wife, Christy Wilson was also killed at the salon. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Scott Dekraai, 47, is led from the courtroom in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana on Friday, August 18, 2017, following a ruling by Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals who took the death penalty off the table for the confessed killer because he concluded law enforcement would not ensure the defendant a fair penalty trial. Dekraai pleaded guilty to killing eight people and wounding another in an October 2011 shooting spree at a Seal Beach salon. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Goethals said local prosecutors and sheriff’s officials had themselves to blame.

“If this case had been prosecuted from the outset by the Orange County District Attorney within the most fundamental parameters of prosecutorial propriety, this defendant would likely today be living alongside other convicted killers on California’s Death Row in the state prison at San Quentin,” he said.

Goethals signaled he intends to sentence Dekraai to eight consecutive life terms in prison on Sept. 22.

The judge’s decision is a measure of how Orange County’s justice system has been damaged by accusations that law enforcement has for as many as 30 years secretly and illegally used jailhouse informants to cajole confessions from inmates represented by attorneys. Information about those informants was routinely withheld from the defense, courts have ruled.

The reverberations are likely to continue in the run up to next June’s elections, as District Attorney Tony Rackauckas seeks another term and candidates jockey to replace Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, who is retiring.

After Goethals’ decision, Deputy Attorney General Michael Murphy, the lead prosecutor on the Dekraai case, said his office will weigh an appeal. “We’re going to examine the opinion closely and make a decision soon.”

The ruling came in a hushed courtroom packed with attorneys, sheriff’s officials, reporters and relatives of the victims. The tension increased when bailiffs brought in Dekraai, wearing an orange jail jumpsuit.

Afterward, some relatives of the victims loudly urged Murphy not to appeal Goethals’ ruling.

“I honor this judge and what it took to do an unpopular thing in Orange County, but the right thing for everyone involved here,” said Bethany Webb, whose sister was killed in the shooting rampage.

Paul Wilson, whose wife Christy died in the attack, said, “I’m happy with the decision, the feeling of relief…The fact I don’t have to worry about it any more is huge.”

Some other family members of the victims had called for Dekraai to receive the death penalty.

Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, whose dogged efforts on Dekraai’s behalf shifted attention to the conduct of law enforcement and prosecutors, told reporters Goethals made the “right ruling” after considering the “overwhelming evidence of misconduct.”

Sanders said he believes hundreds of cases beyond Dekraai’s could have been affected by what he asserted has been decades of systemic cheating by law enforcement.

The Orange County district attorney’s office and the sheriff’s department both expressed disappointment with Goethals’ decision.

“The facts in this case clearly supported a death penalty verdict,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement. “Notwithstanding the issues that were raised by the court’s ruling, we believe the defendant would have received a fair trial during the penalty phase of the criminal proceedings. The decision to remove the death penalty rests at the feet of Judge Goethals and nobody else.”

Rackauckas’ office issued a statement saying Goethals’ decision came as no surprise, given the judge’s earlier rulings.

Dekraai planned and carried out the massacre in a manner intended to ensure his ex-wife, who was among those killed, would “experience the terror and horror of seeing her friends and clients murdered,” the statement said. “Whether some members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department failed to produce tangential information in a timely manner has nothing to do with what Dekraai did and the fact that Dekraai deserves the death penalty.”

The state attorney general made an independent decision to seek the death penalty and “should be able to proceed forward because Dekraai would have received a fair trial,” the statement said.

The ruling removing the death penalty came after more than four years of delay in the case as Goethals investigated accusations that prosecutors and sheriff’s deputies systemically withheld evidence and used a network of jailhouse informants to illegally get confessions from targeted inmates.

As he methodically reviewed the long criminal proceedings, Goethals described the shooting as of such “horrible magnitude they can hardly be compared to any others in the history of Orange County.”

He pointedly criticized the sheriff’s department and county district attorney’s office for their handling of what should have been a slam-dunk case. He noted he has held three hearings and issued orders seeking records related to operations inside the county jail system, but “compliance remains an elusive goal.”

He cited the belated, repeated discovery of additional records and said Sheriff Hutchens, who testified in the hearings, “could offer no explanation as to how this situation could exist so many years after this court issued the first discovery order.”

The sheriff’s department “consistently responded to this court’s lawful order with such indolence and obfuscation,” Goethals said, and he couldn’t ensure compliance from the prosecution team moving forward.

Some would ask why such legal standards should play a controlling role in a case involving such “historically horrendous crimes,” which were observed by many eye witnesses and that police say Dekraai confessed to on video tape, Goethals said.

“In this court’s view, these truths matter,” he said. “To ensure the ongoing integrity of the justice system, courts must demand that everyone follow the same set of rules.”

Goethals continued: “These truths matter because what has always made America a beacon of justice, stability and hope both at home and abroad is the fact that this great country operates under the rule of law…No individual or agency is above the law.”

Those killed were Victoria Buzzo, 54; David Caouette, 64; Randy Lee Fannin, 62; Michele Daschbach Fast, 47; Michelle Marie Fournier, 48; Lucia Bernice Kondas, 65; Laura Webb Elody, 46; and Christy Lynn Wilson, 47. Hattie Stretz was also shot but survived.

The shooting spree stemmed from a custody battle between Dekraai and his ex-wife, Fournier.

The case cast a national spotlight on Orange County’s justice system. Separate investigations by the California Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division are underway.

Goethals ignited a legal firestorm in March 2015 when he took the penalty phase away from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office because of misconduct that he said threatened to deprive Dekraai of his civil rights. The state attorney general’s office took over the case.

State appellate justices later upheld Goethals decision, calling the misuse of jailhouse informants and withholding of evidence by prosecutors and sheriff’s deputies “real” and “systemic.” But the 2016-17 Orange County Grand Jury concluded the informant scandal was a “myth” and there was no sanctioned informant program run by sheriff’s deputies and benefiting prosecutors.

But the grand jury report didn’t dissuade Goethals from concluding jailhouse informants were regularly misused on inmates who had attorneys and were formally charged.