Sam Haskell Jr. appears SHIRTLESS in court as he's charged with killing and dismembering his wife, as well as murdering her parents

Sam Haskell, the Hollywood super-agent’s son accused of killing his wife Mei and cutting up her body, made a brief, bare-chested appearance in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Friday.

The heavily tattooed 35-year-old – who is also charged with murdering Mei’s parents – is on suicide watch in the LAPD’s Valley Jail in Van Nuys.

The Velcro straps on the special gown he was wearing came undone, allowing it to slip down, a court deputy explained to DailyMail.com after the hearing

Haskell was scheduled Friday for arraignment and to enter a guilty or not guilty plea on the three murder charges he is facing.

Sam Haskell appeared naked from the waist up in court Friday during an arraignment hearing  for the murder of his wife and her parents 

Haskell, who will now be asked to enter a plea next month, is accused of chopping wife Mei up 

Sam Haskell (pictured) the son of a Hollywood hotshot of the same name is accused of killing his wife and her parents, then chopping them up 

But LA Superior Court Judge Kimberley, Baker Guillemet continued the arraignment and plea till January 12 at the request of Haskell’s new attorney Joseph Weimortz, who has just been hired and said he needed time to familiarize himself with the case.

Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman objected to the continuance, telling the court, ‘We’re opposed to putting this over for another six weeks.’

He was remanded without bail back to jail.

Haskell, who could face the death penalty if convicted, was arrested after the headless torso of a woman – believed to be his Chinese-born wife Mei, 37 – was found in a dumpster near his office in Encino, northwest of LA, last month.

He was charged with murdering Mei and also killing her parents, mother Yanking Wang, 64 and father, Gaoshan Li, 72, who are both still missing.

Mei's friends have told DailyMail.com she had wanted to divorce Haskell for at least four years, but feared his powerful agent father would persuade courts to give him custody of their three sons, aged six, eight and 12.

Prosecutors allege that on the day following the murders, Haskell hired four day laborers to remove black trash bags from his LA-area home.

One worker revealed that he was paid $500 to remove three large trash 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 tell they weren't rocks,' he said, noting that the bags were soft and soggy.’

He and his co-workers looked inside the bags and inside they saw 'body parts, a belly button.’

Mei, pictured, is said to have wanted to leave Haskell - but feared his powerful father would try to stop her seeing the couple's three children  

Mei, her mother Yanking Wang, 64 and father, Gaoshan Li, 72, are all pictured. Haskell's in-laws remain missing and are feared to have been murdered by him 

Police are seen searching the $2.5 million six bedroom house where the young Haskell family lived, with Mei's parents

'I was astonished. Of course, I felt bad. We had been tricked,' he said.

The men then returned the bags and the money to Haskell's home, telling him they did not 'want to be involved.'

The workers went straight to law enforcement and informed the California Highway Patrol and the police.

Prosecutors said that later that day, Haskell 'was allegedly observed and photographed a short distance from his home disposing [of] a large trash bag into a dumpster in the 16000 block of Ventura Boulevard.'

Haskell is the son of Samuel Haskell III, a former executive vice-president and worldwide 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's brother, Prince Edward. He quit in 2004, and went on to found Magnolia Hill Productions.

Haskell senior was also CEO of the Miss America organization from 2015-17, but resigned after he was found to have criticized some of the contestants in private emails, ridiculing one for gaining weight and describing another as promiscuous.

Mei's friends have revealed the supposed fear she lived in for years given the family's connections.

'Mei first brought up a divorce when I was getting one in 2019,' one friend named Jenny exclusively told DailyMail.com. 'I told her she could do it, but she just felt like she couldn't risk losing her boys.'

'Mei felt trapped,' said longtime friend Jenny who would only give her first name in fear of retaliation from the prominent Haskell family.

'She said she couldn't leave because of the boys. She was afraid that her husband would take away the kids with the help of his very rich and influential father.'

'She said it wasn't happening. That there was no way she could get a divorce.

'Maybe she brought it up again and then he snapped.'

'There was also physical abuse,' added Jenny. 'She told me that he had hurt her. He had hit her.'

Jenny also claimed that Mei had told her that her husband did not get along with her mother Wang and father Li.

The parents had moved into their home in Tarzana, 25 miles north of Los Angeles, about five years ago to help look after the couple's three young boys.

'She said he was rude to them and ignored them. That they made him angry,' one friend said.

'They couldn'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 help take care of the baby. They were very helpful with the kids.

A bag with a headless torso was found stuffed into a duffel bag and tossed into this dumpster behind Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue, near a family-style restaurant, a hair salon and two banks

The LA dumpster where a woman's dismembered torso was found before ex-Hollywood agent Samuel Haskell Snr's son was arrested for murder

'Mei doesn't have any other family here except for her parents.'

Mei's friends described her husband as 'weird'. 'He would make these sudden moves with his arms and just blurt things out,' one person, who did not want to be named, said.

'When I first met him, I immediately thought of Jeffrey Dahmer, that same creepy vibe. He would walk really fast with his head down, rarely looking up and never make eye contact.

'We are absolutely devastated. Mei was such a bright light and loved her kids so much. She wanted to create a wonderful world for them and she did.

'Mei was the one we would all go to if 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 horrific nature of the murders he’s accused of, unearthed texts from six months ago seem to show Haskell couldn’t stomach the sight of blood and gore.

In a text to his ex personal trainer Troy Piedade about the seeing the horror film, The Forever Purge, ‘He didn't like the movie because of the dismembered bodies,’ said Troy.

‘He (Haskell) wrote: 'Fools really be getting chopped up in Mexico for real it's hard for me to enjoy a movie about it, I'm down with purge 2 anarchy.'

Troy said he sensed something 'a bit off' with Haskell, whom he met nearly 15 years ago. He added that he felt Sam was 'very troubled' but did not think his former client could be a murderer.