A provisional date of March 13 in the murder trial of Carlos Marlo Hernandez-Ventura was set during a pretrial conference Friday in Dallas County District Court.
Hernandez-Ventura, 25, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Lourdes Leake, 34, her daughter, Melany Barraza, 14, and Juan Jimenez, 78, all of Perry.
Hernandez-Ventura allegedly used a machete to kill Leake and Barraza in the Oct. 29 murders. Jimenez died Nov. 12 of injuries received in the brutal October attack.
The alleged murderer is held on $3 million bond in the Dallas County Jail.
Wearing a standard-issue Dallas County Jail jumpsuit and Day-Glow orange flip flops, Hernandez-Ventura appeared before Fifth Judicial District Court Judge Brad McCall about 9:45 a.m. Friday.
Court-appointed interpreter Arturo Maldonado translated the proceedings into Spanish for Hernandez-Ventura. According to court documents, the defendant can read and write in Spanish, having received a sixth-grade education in his native country of El Salvador.
Assistant Dallas County Attorneys Erica Clark and Sean Wieser represented the state at the pretrial conference.
Jill Eimermann, assistant public defender in the Special Defense Unit of the Iowa Public Defenders office, which is defending Hernandez-Ventura, said her client came before the court in order to make a limited waiver of his right to a speedy trial.
Hernandez-Ventura was charged Dec. 9, so his trial should begin by March 9 to satisfy the law’s 90-day right to a speedy trial. Judge McCall asked Eimermann whether her client wished to waive his right.
“With the understanding,” Eimermann said, “that the parties have selected March 13, 2017, for a trial date, assuming the court approves that, that would be four days beyond his right to speedy trial, and our client would approve a limited waiver for that purpose.”
Judge McCall, speaking through Maldonado, then asked the defendant whether he wished to waive his right, and Hernandez-Ventura said he did.
“I will note the limited waiver and reschedule the trial to begin on March 13,” Judge McCall said.
A second pretrial conference is scheduled for Feb. 17 at 9 a.m. before Dallas County District Court Judge Paul R. Huscher.
I’m kind of surprised the defense didn’t request a change of venue. Then again, it probably wouldn’t change the probable outcome.