Wozniak juror recalls emotional struggle with ‘sick murder plot’
“Today I sentenced a man to death. It is a sobering experience and a decision I will live with the rest of my life. My conscience will bear it.” — Facebook post, Jan. 11.
A powerful comment from James Vaughn — Laguna Hills resident, Harvard graduate, consultant for the Congressional Management Foundation in Washington, D.C., and former board president of Men Alive — Orange County Gay Men’s Chorus.
Vaughn usually posts pictures of his dogs, husband and fun with friends.
Not this day. Vaughn was a member of the jury that recommended a death sentence for convicted murderer Daniel Wozniak.
To recap, Wozniak, a community theater actor from Costa Mesa, killed and dismembered Army Veteran Sam Herr, 26, in May 2010.
He also shot Herr’s friend Juri “Julie” Kibuishi, 23, to try to frame Herr for her killing as part of a convoluted plot to steal $62,000 from Herr’s bank account.
Vaughn, who had never served on a jury prior to this, said before the case that he was “slightly in favor of the death penalty but thought these cases deserved special scrutiny.”
After the trial?
“My view is that there are crimes where we should draw the line as a society. I could support the death penalty if there was no doubt whatsoever of the guilt of the person involved. Wozniak confessed voluntarily and it was recorded,” he said.
Vaughn’s voice cracked with emotion as I asked if he had watched NBC’s “Dateline” episode about the case on Jan. 15.
He said it was like “reliving the trial all over again.”
Some of the same cropped crime scene photos seen on the show were shown during the trial.
Vaughn says jurors saw the uncropped versions in the jury room, and they were difficult to view.
Hearing the victims’ family members testifying in their grief was emotional as well.
“You brace yourself for it. You could see the tears from the jury box, and courtroom sobbing was audible. It was really tough,” he said.
Then there was Wozniak.
“I kept looking at this man and trying to imagine how someone who looks so normal and has such a simple demeanor could do something so heinous,” Vaughn said.
Vaughn said Wozniak kept looking at the jury, trying to be engaging.
“This guy killed two people and cut off Sam’s head — it was very surreal,” Vaughn said.
How did jurors cope with hearing and seeing such horrific testimony?
“It’s weird — you have 16 strangers who have one thing in common and can’t talk about it,” Vaughn said.
He said some talked about having nightmares. Others coped with comfort food. A couple of people even went to Disneyland to lighten their moods.
Vaughn said he would “spend hours trying not to cry” when he got home.
Until the trial started, he hadn’t heard of Wozniak or the killings.
“I don’t read that kind of news. I read mostly political news,” he said.
When the case went to the jury initially in December, he and another juror had one question of the judge. They wanted legal clarification on the count dealing with the Kibuishi killing and financial gain.
“I didn’t want to hold it up but I was trying to be fair for the defendant. That’s what were told to do,” Vaughn said.
The judge answered the question within an hour, and “we all agreed on guilty on all other counts on the first vote,” Vaughn said.
When it came to the penalty phase, “it’s one thing to intellectually have a discussion about the death penalty, it’s another when you’re faced with the reality,” he said.
Watching “Dateline” was the first time Vaughn heard Wozniak’s fiancée, Rachel Buffett, speak.
“Hearing from Rachel was new; she didn’t testify. We weren’t allowed to find out why, and we were asking that,” Vaughn said.
After the trial, questions remain for Vaughn about Buffett. He feels she wasn’t the innocent bystander she claimed to be on “Dateline.”
But it seems the most disturbing aspect of this case for Vaughn was the randomness with which Kibuishi was selected to be murdered.
Apparently, Wozniak tried luring another woman to Herr’s apartment before her. When that woman said no, he texted Kibuishi.
This sticks with Vaughn.
He has contacted the Orange County School of the Arts, Kibuishi’s alma mater, and wants to help with funding a guest arts program at the school in her name. He wants to work with her parents on this.
“Their daughter should be remembered for more than just being a random victim in a sick murder plot for money,” Vaughn said.
It’s admirable that he’s looking to create something positive out of this tragic situation.
ABC’s “20/20” and CBS’ “48 Hours” are doing shows about the trial. Vaughn has agreed to participate.
BARBARA VENEZIA lives in Newport Beach. She can be reached at bvontv1@gmail.com. Listen to her weekly radio segment on “Sunday Brunch with Tom and Lynn” from 11 a.m. to noon on KOCI/101.5 FM.