A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday in Adel for the suspect charged in the double murder committed Oct. 29 in Perry.
Carlos Marlo Hernandez-Ventura, 25, is held at the Dallas County Jail on $3 million bond. He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Lourdes Leake, 34, and her daughter, Melany Barraza, 14, of Perry.
Hernandez-Ventura also faces one count of attempted murder in the assault on Juan Jimenez, 78, of Perry.
In actions Tuesday, District Court Judge Virginia Cobb appointed Michael H. Adams of the Iowa Special Defense Unit to represent Hernandez-Ventura. An interpreter has also been appointed for the native of El Salvador.
Jimenez remains in a coma at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, according to his Gofundme page. Jimenez is “still in bad shape,” the page’s administrator said Monday.
ThePerryNews.com will update this story as information becomes available.
