"A Bay Area man who was recently slapped with a $23.6 million civil judgment over his wife's presumed death in Taiwan six years ago has now been arrested on perjury charges, on allegations he repeatedly lied under oath to conceal a murder that will likely never be prosecuted. Harald Herchen, 66, was arrested Thursday in Los Altos and booked into the Elmwood men's jail in Milpitas, and was scheduled to be arraigned Friday, records show."
"Ku lived in Mountain View with Herchen when she disappeared. Deputy District Attorney Rob Baker said the cold case unit, which he oversees, has never given up on getting justice of Alice. He alluded to the tangle of jurisdictional issues namely the foreign location of the presumed killing and Herchen's citizenship status as a Canadian national that prevent a local murder trial, and how the recent civil verdict opened a path to prosecuting him on U.S. soil."
Harald Herchen, 66, was arrested in Los Altos and booked in Milpitas on seven felony counts of perjury for allegedly making provably false sworn statements. A Santa Clara County jury in July found him civilly liable for the November 29, 2019 disappearance and presumed death of 36-year-old Alice Ku, who was last seen while vacationing in Hualien, Taiwan; her body has never been found. The civil judgment totaled $23.6 million. Prosecutors cited jurisdictional hurdles and Herchen's Canadian citizenship as barriers to a local murder prosecution, and pursued perjury charges as an alternative. Herchen maintains his innocence and has filed a motion seeking a new trial, challenging the plaintiffs' legal standing.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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