A Los Altos inventor who allegedly killed his wife in Taiwan blew off a second hearing for the seven felonies he is being charged with.
Harald Herchen, 66, refused to show up in court yesterday after the Santa Clara County DA’s office charged him with seven counts of felony perjury related to the varying stories he told about the disappearance of his wife, Alice Ku. Herchen also refused to appear in court on Friday.
Ku, 37, disappeared after sightseeing with Herchen at Taroko National Park on Nov. 29, 2019.
Herchen’s attorney, Chuck Smith, asked for the hearing to be moved to Friday in the Palo Alto Courthouse at 270 Grant Ave.
Deputy District Attorney William Bobseine asked Santa Clara Judge Thomas Kuhnle to consider a restraining order for a list of six people so Herchen would not contact them.
“We realized early on that obtaining jurisdiction to charge someone with a death that happened in another country would be very challenging, if not impossible,” Deputy District Attorney Rob Baker previously told the Post.
He faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, according to Baker.
The perjury charges relate to four details of Herchen’s story about Ku’s disappearance that have changed between two depositions and the two-week civil trial that ended on July 18. Ku’s family had sued Herchen for wrongful death. The jury awarded Ku’s family $23.6 million after two hours of deliberations.
Jurors were interviewed by a Post reporter and said they weren’t convinced Herchen dropped off Ku at the train station.
Investigators appear to agree with the jurors, as two of Herchen’s perjury charges are related to his inconsistent stories about dropping Ku off at a train station in Taiwan after going to Taroko National Park, where she decided to stay in Taiwan for extra time in order to see her parents.
Taiwanese law enforcement determined that Ku’s cellphone data never showed her near the train station.
Additional perjury charges are related to an email that Ku allegedly sent to Herchen saying that she had arrived at her mother’s home.
An email expert testified during the civil trial that the email was sent from a laptop on the hotel Wi-Fi where Herchen was staying.
Two other charges are related to Herchen’s shifting testimony about his broken hand.
At various times, Herchen said the injury was from wrestling with his brother, punching a bookshelf and inflating a car tire with a bike pump.
During the civil trial, Attorney Todd Davis, representing the Ku family, had Herchen admit to previously lying under oath about a hand injury.
The final perjury charge accuses Herchen of lying about his belief that Ku is alive.
Aside from saying she went to stay with her parents, Herchen also said he thinks Ku ran off with a younger man.
Herchen has worked since 2009 as a fellow at Bloom Energy, a company based in San Jose that converts natural gas into electricity. He has about 60 to 70 patents for different parts but lost his job after the jury’s verdict.
Ku’s family has since filed a restraining order freezing Herchen’s assets after learning he had sold properties in Palo Alto and Texas and accused him of trying to avoid paying the judgment.
Herchen was arraigned on the seven counts. He remains in jail on no bail status.