The son of the Hollywood executive accused of killing his wife Mei and her parents and dismembering their bodies has returned to court bare-chested.
Sam Haskell IV was once again shirtless at his last appearance in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, just as he was during his last appearance on January 12.
The heavily tattooed 35-year-old is on suicide watch at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Jail in Van Nuys.
He is the son of Hollywood talent agent Samuel Haskell III, whose tenure at WME included overseeing The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Everybody Loves Raymond.
In his last court visit, Haskell pleaded not guilty to the murder of his 37-year-old wife and his parents, Goashan Li, 72, and Yanxiang Wang, 64.
Sam Haskell IV was shirtless again at his last appearance in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, just as he was during his last appearance on January 12.
In his last court visit, Haskell had pleaded not guilty to the murder of his 37-year-old wife and his parents, Goashan Li, 72, and Yanxiang Wang, 64.
The heavily tattooed 35-year-old is on suicide watch at the LAPD’s Valley Jail in Van Nuys.
Haskell’s attorney, Joseph Weimortz, previously objected to his client’s semi-nude appearance in court, calling it “dehumanizing” and asking Judge Kimberley Baker Guillemet to cover it.
Having the upper half of his body naked, covered in tattoos, “was not Mr. Haskell’s fault,” Weimortz said, adding that he “has given no indication that he intended to harm himself.”
The judge had ordered media photographers in court to only film Haskell “from the neck up” during the January hearing.
This order also remained in effect during today’s session. No visible signs of self-harm were observed on the accused today.
The judge had ordered media photographers in court to only film Haskell “from the neck up” during the January hearing.
This order also remained in effect during today’s session. No visible signs of self-harm were observed on the accused today.
Body parts found in an Encino dumpster are confirmed to be the remains of 37-year-old Mei Haskell (pictured)
Haskell, 35, is accused of the murder of his wife Mei, as well as his mother Yanking Wang, 64, and his father Gaoshan Li, 72, who remain missing.
Haskell, who could face the death penalty if convicted, was arrested after the headless torso of a woman, later identified as his Chinese-born wife Mei, 37, was found last month in a dumpster near his office in Encino, northwest of Los Angeles. .
He was accused of murdering Mei and also killing her mother, Yanking Wang, 64, and father, Gaoshan Li, 72, who are still missing.
Mei’s friends told DailyMail.com that she had wanted to divorce Haskell for at least four years, but feared her powerful agent father would persuade the courts to grant her custody of their three children, aged six, eight and 12 years.
Prosecutors allege that the day after the murders, Haskell hired four laborers to remove black trash bags from his Los Angeles-area home.
One worker revealed he was paid $500 to remove three large garbage bags, adding that Haskell claimed they were full of rocks before pretending the body parts were “Halloween props.”
The judge returned him without bail to the Men’s Central Jail downtown and scheduled a preliminary hearing for Feb. 16.
A bag with a headless torso was found stuffed into a duffel bag and dumped in this dumpster behind Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue, near a family-style restaurant, a hair salon, and two banks.
Haskell is the son of former Hollywood actor Samuel Haskell III
“When we picked up the bags, we realized they weren’t rocks,” he said, noting that the bags were soft and soaked.
He and his co-workers looked inside the bags and inside they saw “body parts, a navel.”
‘I was amazed. Of course, I felt bad. We had been fooled,’ she claimed.
The men then returned the bags and money to Haskell’s home, telling him they didn’t “want to get involved.”
The workers went directly to the authorities and informed the California Highway Patrol and the police.
Prosecutors said that later that day, Haskell “was allegedly observed and photographed a short distance from his home dumping a large bag of trash into a dumpster in the 16000 block of Ventura Boulevard.”
Haskell is the son of Samuel Haskell III, former executive vice president and global head of television at talent agency William Morris Endeavor.
Her clients included Dolly Parton, George Clooney, Kathie Lee Gifford, Whoopi Goldberg and King Charles’ brother Prince Edward. He resigned in 2004 and founded Magnolia Hill Productions.
Haskell Sr. was also executive director of the Miss America organization from 2015 to 2017, but resigned after it was discovered that he had criticized some of the contestants in private emails, ridiculing one for gaining weight and describing another as promiscuous.