Sam Haskell pleads NOT GUILTY to murdering his wife and her parents after dismembered body parts were found in a dumpster
Sam Haskell IV, the son of the Hollywood super agent accused of killing his wife Mei and dismembering her body, pleaded not guilty Friday to killing her and her parents.
Haskell, 35, was bare-chested at his arraignment in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, just as he was during his last court appearance on Dec. 8, when — a sheriff’s deputy explained to DailyMail.com — the light blue dress he wore wore Velcro straps to indicate his talk about ‘suicide and mental disability’, causing them to slide down to his waist.
On Friday, Haskell’s attorney, Joseph Weimortz, objected to his client’s semi-naked appearance in court, calling it “dehumanizing” and asking Judge Kimberley Baker Guillemet to cover for him.
That the top half of his heavily tattooed body was stripped naked was “not Mr. Haskell’s fault,” Weimortz said, adding that “he has given no indication that he intends to harm himself.”
The judge then ordered media photographers in court to only film Haskell ‘from the neck up’.
Samuel Haskell appeared bare-chested during his arraignment in downtown Los Angeles, where he pleaded not guilty. The judge ordered media photographers in court to only film Haskell ‘from the neck up’
Body parts found in an Encino dumpster have been confirmed as the remains of 37-year-old Mei Haskell (pictured)
Haskell, 35, is accused of murdering his wife Mei, as well as her mother, Yanking Wang, 64, and father, Gaoshan Li, 72, who remain missing
Haskell said nothing when attorney Weimortz responded, “Yes, your honor,” when LA Supreme Court Judge Kimberley Baker Guillemet asked if his client pleaded not guilty to all three charges.”
The judge remanded him to the Men’s Central Jail downtown without bail and scheduled a preliminary hearing for Feb. 16.
Haskell, who faces the death penalty if convicted, was arrested after the decapitated 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 LA, previous month .
He was charged with Mei’s murder and the murders of her mother, Yanking Wang, 64, and father, Gaoshan Li, 72, both of whom remain missing.
Mei’s friends have told DailyMail.com that she had wanted to divorce Haskell for at least four years but feared his father, a powerful agent, would convince the court to give him custody of their three sons, aged six, eight and 12.
Prosecutors allege that Haskell hired four day laborers to remove black trash bags from his LA home the day after the murders.
One worker revealed he was paid $500 to remove three large garbage bags – adding that Haskell claimed they were filled with rocks before later pretending the body parts were ‘Halloween props’.
“When we picked up the bags, we could see they weren’t rocks,” he said, noting that the bags were soft and moist.”
He and his colleagues looked in the bags and inside they saw ‘body parts, a belly button.’
‘I was surprised. Of course I felt bad. We were cheated,” he said.
Haskell also made a shirtless appearance while in court on December 8
A bag containing a headless torso was found, stuffed into a duffel bag and thrown into a dumpster behind Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue, near a family restaurant, hair salon and two banks
The judge remanded him to the Men’s Central Jail downtown without bail and scheduled a preliminary hearing for Feb. 16
The men then took the bags and money back to Haskell’s home and told him they “didn’t want to be involved.”
The workers went straight to police and notified the California Highway Patrol and police.
Prosecutors said that later that day, Haskell was “allegedly observed and photographed a short distance from his home disposing of a large garbage bag in a dumpster in the 16000 block of Ventura Boulevard.”
Haskell is the son of Samuel Haskell III, a former executive vice president and global head of television for the talent agency William Morris Endeavor.
His clients included Dolly Parton, George Clooney, Kathie Lee Gifford, Whoopi Goldberg and King Charles’ brother Prince Edward. He retired in 2004 and founded Magnolia Hill Productions.
Haskell is the son of former Hollywood top agent Samuel Haskell III
Haskell senior was also CEO of the Miss America organization from 2015 to 2017, but resigned after it emerged he had criticized a number of contestants in private emails, ridiculing one for gaining weight and describing another as promiscuous .
Mei’s friends have revealed the alleged fear she lived in for years, given the family’s connections.
“May first brought up divorce when I got one in 2019,” a friend named Jenny told DailyMail.com exclusively. “I told her she could do it, but she just felt like she couldn’t risk losing her boys.”
“Mei felt trapped,” says longtime friend Jenny, who asked to give only her first name for fear of reprisals from the prominent Haskell family.
‘She said she couldn’t leave because of the boys. She was afraid that her husband would take the children away with the help of his very wealthy and influential father.’
“She said it didn’t happen. That there was no way she could divorce.
“Maybe she started it again and he snapped.”
“There was also physical abuse,” Jenny added. ‘She told me he had hurt her. He had hit her.’
Jenny also claimed that Mei told her that her husband did not get along well with her parents about five years ago, who had moved to their home in Tarzana, 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, to care for the couple’s three young boys .
‘She said he was rude to them and ignored them. That they made him angry,” said a friend.
‘They didn’t speak English, but he made no effort to interact with them.
‘When Mei’s youngest son was born, her parents moved from China to care for the baby. They were very helpful with the children.
“Mei has no other family here besides her parents.”
Mei’s friends describe her husband as ‘weird’. “He was making sudden movements with his arms and blurting out things,” said one person, who asked not to be named.
LAPD officers are seen at the Haskell home in Tarzana in November as the search continued for more bodies. They also went to his office in Encino
‘When I first met him I immediately thought of Jeffrey Dahmer, that same eerie atmosphere. He walked very quickly with his head down, rarely looking up and never making eye contact.
‘We are absolutely devastated. Mei was such a bright light and loved her children so much. She wanted to create a beautiful world for them and she did.
‘Mei was the one we all went to when we needed help or advice. She was always there for us. She was always so positive. She never complained. Her boys were her everything and the boys loved her so much.”
Ironically, despite the gruesome nature of the murders he is accused of, unearthed texts from six months ago seem to show that Haskell could not bear the sight of blood and gore.
In a text message to his ex-personal trainer Troy Piedade about seeing the horror movie The Forever Purge: “He didn’t like the movie because of the dismembered bodies,” Troy said.
‘He (Haskell) wrote: ‘Fools are really being cut to pieces in Mexico. It’s hard for me to make a movie about it, I’m suffering from Purge 2 anarchy.’
Piedade said he felt something “a little strange” about Haskell, whom he met nearly 15 years ago. He added that he felt Sam was “very disturbed” but that he did not think his former client could be a murderer.