A Bay Space man who was just lately slapped with a $23.6 million civil judgment over his spouse’s presumed loss of life in Taiwan six years in the past has now been arrested on perjury fees, on allegations he repeatedly lied underneath oath to hide a homicide that can seemingly by no means be prosecuted.
Harald Herchen, 66, was arrested Thursday in Los Altos and booked into the Elmwood males’s jail in Milpitas, and was scheduled to be arraigned Friday, data present.
In July, a Santa Clara County jury dominated that Herchen had civil legal responsibility for the November 29, 2019 loss of life of 36-year-old Alice Ku, who was final seen alive whereas the 2 had been vacationing within the space of Hualien, Taiwan. The trial was spurred by a lawsuit filed by the household of Ku, whose physique has by no means been discovered.
Herchen was charged with seven felony counts of perjury, which accuse him of constructing provably false statements in sworn testimony in the course of the civil litigation and a associated probate continuing.
His arrest was introduced Friday by Mountain View police, at the side of the Santa Clara County District Lawyer’s Workplace Chilly Case Unit. Ku lived in Mountain View with Herchen when she disappeared.
Deputy District Lawyer Rob Baker mentioned the chilly case unit, which he oversees, “has never given up on getting justice of Alice.” He alluded to the tangle of jurisdictional points — specifically the international location of the presumed killing and Herchen’s citizenship standing as a Canadian nationwide — that forestall an area homicide trial, and the way the current civil verdict opened a path to prosecuting him on U.S. soil.
“We realized early on that getting jurisdiction to charge someone with a death that occurred in another country was going to be a major challenge, if not impossible. So we had to think outside the box,” Baker mentioned. “Even though we can’t charge Mr. Herchen for Alice’s death, we can charge him for trying to cover it up.”
Herchen has maintained his innocence, and has filed a movement for a brand new trial by difficult the plaintiffs’ authorized standing to sue.
A key element of the case towards Herchen was Taiwanese investigators contradicting his model of occasions that contended Ku willingly parted methods with him to go to her dad and mom. Based on earlier testimony and a possible trigger affidavit filed this week, they cited cellphone knowledge that confirmed Herchen and Ku had been final collectively at Toroko Nationwide Park — the place she was presumably killed — and had been by no means close to the practice station the place Herchen claims he took her afterward.
The civil trial additionally included testimony from Ku’s dad and mom asserting they had been by no means conscious that their daughter was in Taiwan. A doctor who handled Herchen for a damaged wrist testified that the harm occurred on the day Ku disappeared — not earlier than the Taiwan journey as he claimed — and monetary data and log-in knowledge from Ku’s accounts confirmed no exercise after that day.
In September 2023, Superior Court docket Decide Charles Adams issued a probate ruling that declared Ku’s official date of loss of life as Nov. 29, 2019. Throughout a previous listening to, when requested why he believed Ku was nonetheless alive, Herchen testified, “I think she ran off with another man.”
Herchen, an engineer at Bloom Power, and Ku, who grew up in Los Gatos and graduated from Saratoga Excessive College and Santa Clara College, married in October 2017. That was 4 months after Herchen’s first spouse died, although the 2 had been already engaged in an extramarital affair, in accordance with courtroom data.
Different data present that the shortly into their marriage the couple clashed over her declare to his property. Neighbors reportedly informed Ku’s brother that previous to the fateful Taiwan journey, Herchen and Ku may very well be heard arguing and mentioning divorce.
There may be an energetic arrest warrant for Herchen in Taiwan. However as a result of there isn’t a extradition treaty with america he’s unlikely to be despatched to Taiwan for prosecution for the alleged homicide, for a mess of causes together with a scarcity of assurance of the authorized rights he would have there.
State prosecutors — which on this case could be the county district lawyer’s workplace — are usually prohibited from assuming jurisdiction of a killing outdoors the nation with out compelling proof {that a} suspect made plans to kill whereas nonetheless in america.
Herchen additionally eludes being charged with homicide underneath federal legislation, as a result of whereas it’s a federal crime for a U.S. citizen to kill one other U.S. citizen on international soil, that doesn’t apply to a non-citizen who kills a U.S. citizen overseas. The truth that he lives in america makes no distinction.
All of this led to the newly filed perjury fees. Mountain View Detective Terry Hoang alleged within the new possible trigger affidavit that “Herchen lied under oath at his September 19, 2022, deposition, (at his) August 25, 2023, probate deposition, as well as his civil jury trial.” The costs don’t at the moment mirror his trial statements, however prosecutors say that may very well be amended later.
“His inconsistent testimony,” Hoang wrote, “demonstrates consciousness of guilt and reinforces the conclusion of the Taiwan authorities that he is responsible for (Ku’s) murder.”
This can be a creating story. Test again for updates.
