Can 2 judges be witnesses in a contentious double-murder case? Decision expected Tuesday

An Orange County judge is expected to rule Tuesday whether a defense attorney is entitled to call fellow judges as witnesses in a double-murder case.

Public defender Scott Sanders recently subpoenaed the two Orange County judges in the case of Daniel Patrick Wozniak, who is accused of killing two Costa Mesa college students in 2010 and then dismembering one of them in an attempt to cover up what he’d done.

The judges objected, and after hearing arguments on the topic last week, Judge Gregg Prickett said Friday that he’d decide by Tuesday whether or not to quash the subpoenas.

As an extra wrinkle, one of the subpoenaed judges — Judge John Conley — is presiding over the Wozniak case.

In his defense of Wozniak, Sanders has filed a 700-plus page motion alleging there is a culture of cheating and withholding evidence in the district attorney’s office that’s persisted for decades.

Sanders alleges law enforcement officials illegally encouraged jailhouse informants to target high-profile defendants and then hid any evidence they found from defense attorneys.

He wants to call Conley and Judge Walter Schwarm to the stand because the two judges are former prosecutors who held high-level positions in the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Sanders has said he intends to question them about prosecutors’ use of informants during their tenure.

Specifically, Conley used a prolific informant during a 1985 murder case where doubts arose about the informant’s credibility, according to Sanders’ filings.

Sanders has twice tried to have Conley recused from the Wozniak case based on similar accusations.

The second attempt was thrown out Friday by Conley, who wrote that the new filing was essentially a rerun of the first.

A Los Angeles judge blocked Sanders’ first attempt in March, writing that Sanders failed to show why Conley’s testimony was relevant to the trial.

The district attorney’s office has dismissed Sanders’ allegations of cheating as delay tactics that have nothing to do with the case.

“He hasn’t met the threshold to call a single witness in this hearing,” said prosecutor Matt Murphy, who has repeatedly argued that even if there was any improper use of informants in the past, Sanders hasn’t shown any nexus to the Wozniak case.

Wozniak was approached by an informant in jail, but prosecutors say they won’t use anything said during that exchange, instead relying on an alleged confession to police by Wozniak.

According to grand jury testimony, Wozniak told detectives he killed 26-year-old Army veteran Sam Herr in order to steal $50,000 from his bank account.

After the first murder, Wozniak is accused of luring Herr’s friend, 23-year-old Juri “Julie” Kibuishi, into Herr’s apartment, where he allegedly killed her and staged the body to look as if Herr sexually assaulted her.

Sam Herr’s father pleaded with Conley to not allow Sanders to delay the trial any longer.

“Our children are dead, murdered, yet the quibbling about things that have nothing to do with this case are appalling,” he said.