Thursday’s preliminary hearing of an accused attempted murderer
will most likely be delayed, a deputy district attorney said.
Thursday’s preliminary hearing of an accused attempted murderer will most likely be delayed, a deputy district attorney said.
After pleading not guilty to two counts of attempted murder and three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, Tomas Martinez Romero, 21, was scheduled to appear at his preliminary hearing on March 13.
“More than likely it will just get kicked,” said Deputy District Attorney Amir Alem.
The preliminary hearing – in which the judge hears testimony to decide if there is enough evidence to order the defendant to stand trial – was delayed multiple times because Alem and public defender Javier Rios have been exchanging evidence on the case.
The sticking point has been a set of DVDs of witness interviews, which Rios said he does not have. The district attorney’s provided the information, but Rios lost one of the DVDs, Alem said.
Thursday’s predicted delay results from further technical problems. Rios is having problems viewing the DVD relating to the crime scene, Alem said. Unsure when the preliminary hearing will be rescheduled, Alem said he is trying to expedite the process.
“Things happen where we have to continue cases,” Alem said, naming several inconveniences – such as illness or the unavailability of witnesses – that cause delays in cases like Romero’s. “We live in the real world.”
On the night of March 27, 2007, Romero walked up to a car at Stoney Court Apartments with five people and fired almost 10 rounds, injuring two people, police said. Police originally held another man in April on suspicion of the shooting, but released him a few days later.
Romero was originally arrested in connection with a grisly downtown stabbing – the city’s only murder in 2007. However, the charges were dropped and he was released from custody. Almost deported because he was in the country illegally, police dragged him off a bus at the last moment to serve him with new shooting charges in late July 2007.
If convicted, Romero could go to jail for the rest of his life.
His next court appearance is at 9 a.m. March 13 in Department 92 at the South County Courthouse in San Martin.
