After some courtroom debate and authorized filings by attorneys in a death-penalty case, a Solano Superior Courtroom decide has determined to proceed with a single trial for a number of homicide prices introduced in opposition to a 26-year-old Vallejo man charged with three killings, two in late 2014 and one in early 2015.
In a minute order issued Monday, Choose Tim P. Kam “confirmed” the one trial moderately than separating them into three, a transfer sought by the 2 protection attorneys for Lorenzo Mateo Cortez.
Courtroom information present Cortez is charged with the Nov. 3, 2014, homicide of Isaac Lopez-Reid, 18; the Dec. 20, 2014, homicide of Luis Perez, 18; and the Jan. 10, 2015, homicide of William Brown, 20. All have been shot in Vallejo.
Moreover, the minute order confirmed that the doable overview of police officer personnel information, aka a Pitchess movement, would proceed at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in Division 7, Choose Tim P. Kam’s courtroom, within the Justice Constructing in Vallejo.
Throughout proceedings on Tuesday, Cortez, shackled and seated on the protection desk, listened with no outward emotion as early-morning session obtained underway.
One in all his two protection attorneys, Thomas Kensok of Napa, requested that Kam permit Cortez to be unshackled in the course of the continuing, however the decide denied the request, including that he could take into account it at one other time.
Because the proceedings continued, there was temporary dialogue about “in limine” motions, that are any motions, whether or not made earlier than or throughout trial, to exclude anticipated prejudicial proof earlier than the proof is definitely supplied.
Throughout a courtroom continuing final week, Kensok argued that having the Metropolis Legal professional of Vallejo present police officer information, particularly any exhibiting disciplinary motion for “ethical turpitude,” could “grow to be a part of the protection” and be related.
So he earlier filed a Pitchess movement requiring the prosecutor, in accord with the Brady v. Maryland case, a landmark 1963 U.S. Supreme Courtroom case, to show over all proof that may exonerate his shopper.
After listening to Assistant Metropolis Legal professional Katelyn M. Knight cite “Brady protocols,” Kam approved the District Legal professional’s Workplace to launch the personnel information of some Vallejo cops concerned within the case. He'll overview them in confidence and apparently would decide afterward, probably Wednesday.
In protection of his movement to sever the three homicide counts, every to be heard by three separate juries, Kensok argued that the proof was “cross-admissible,” that's, will determine into every cost, and, due to this fact, jury deliberations could be affected, if not skewed, by the jury verdict on the primary depend.
He asserted that the prosecution’s declare that every sufferer “was lured out” earlier than being shot was false, noting that one deadly taking pictures occurred in the course of the course of a firearm transaction.
Kensok informed Kam that there was no similarity between the circumstances, including, “This case will not be going to rise and fall” on implied malice, or killings that occurred whereas an individual was committing a felony, equivalent to theft.
He mentioned Cortez “can’t get a good trial if all of the circumstances are heard by one jury.”
A jury can't moderately resolve the primary case with out considering the opposite two circumstances throughout deliberations, Kensok added.
“Trials are unpredictable,” he mentioned. “We don’t know what proof” will floor in the course of the trial, citing circumstances during which juries can't moderately rule if the a number of prices are “grouped collectively.”
In response, Deputy District Legal professional Mark Ornellas, who's helping the lead prosecutor, Senior Deputy District Legal professional Julie Underwood, argued that “cross-admissibility” was related and that items of proof are associated to every killing within the Cortez case.
The victims have been shut associates or well-known to Cortez, he informed Kam, and Ornellas didn't see a legitimate authorized cause to sever the costs into three separate trials.
Underwood added that proof would present that Cortez believed certainly one of his victims was “a snitch” and “was offended about it.”
Vallejo police investigators, who arrested Cortez on March 2, 2015, whereas he was in Solano County Jail on unrelated felonies, imagine Cortez shot the primary sufferer as a result of Lopez-Reid had accused him of being “a snitch.” Investigators additionally imagine the deadly shootings of Perez and Brown have been execution-style killings, with each victims robbed of cash and their belongings. Cortez was 19 when he dedicated the alleged crimes.
Underwood contended that Cortez, utilizing one other particular person, lured his victims to a spot, then shot them, and that separating the trials would masks “the context” of all three killings. If every cost is tried individually, “the courtroom would hear three killings which can be the identical,” she added.
She mentioned there's proof that exhibits Cortez and Lopez-Reid have been involved with each other through social media.
However Cortez’s different protection lawyer, Jon C. Weir of Martinez, talking briefly, supported Kensok and challenged a few of Underwood’s assertions.
Kam, within the minute order dated Monday, sided with the prosecution, nevertheless.
Additionally on Tuesday, Kam and the attorneys started a dialogue about jurors questionnaires and when potential jurors could be summoned to courtroom, the place they are going to face questioning and maybe challenges from the prosecution and protection groups, plus inquiries about whether or not they're “death-penalty certified.”
A search of courtroom information confirmed prosecution’s witness checklist, 81 in all, together with 41 eyewitnesses or individuals who had direct information of Cortez’s alleged crimes; 16 lab specialists and custodians of information, together with forensic pathologist Dr. Arnold Josselson and two criminologists from the San Mateo County Crime Lab; and 24 legislation enforcement officers, most of them present or former Vallejo cops.
The trial is predicted to start in late April or early Could and take six months to finish, Underwood mentioned.