Quadruple Murder Defendant Nicolas Holzer Appears in Court

High-profile quadruple murder defendant Nicolas Holzer appeared before Superior Court Judge Thomas Adams Tuesday morning, just days after the one month anniversary of the family murders that rocked our community.

A bearded Holzer, handcuffed and wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, looked up and briefly glanced through the barrier glass at the courtroom audience.

The 45-year-old faces four counts of murder for the stabbing deaths of his two young sons, 13-year-old Sebastian and 10-year-old Vincent, along with his parents, William and Sheila Holzer.

The family dog was also killed.

The murders took place inside the family’s home near Goleta.

During today’s hearing, Judge Thomas Adams assigned the case to a permanent courtroom — barring anything unusual popping up — in department two with Judge Brian Hill.

Holzer’s defense attorney Christine Voss entered a plea of ‘not guilty’ on behalf of her client but said there is a possibility of changing that plea in the future.

“When you enter an insanity plea to something that both the attorney and the client need to jointly do, where I can enter a not guilty plea on his behalf. So today, I entered the not guilty plea on his behalf and then we’ll address whether or not we’re going to enter a not guilty by reason of insanity plea down the road,” Voss said.

NewsChannel 3 asked Voss about Holzer’s current frame of mind.

“I’m really not comfortable addressing that,” Voss said.

Based on today’s hearing, the latest date the case would be brought to trial would be January 10th. Holzer is expected back in court November fourth.