The man held on suspicion of the Oct. 29 double murder in Perry waived his right to a preliminary hearing in Dallas County District Court Thursday afternoon and will now proceed to an arraignment.
Wearing a standard-issue Dallas County Jail jumpsuit and with the index and middle fingers of his right hand heavily bandaged with a gauze dressing, Carlos Marlo Hernandez-Ventura, 25, appeared before Fifth Judicial District Court Judge Virginia Cobb shortly after 2 p.m.
Harnandez-Ventura is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Lourdes Leake, 34, and her daughter, Melany Barraza, 14, of Perry and one count of attempted murder in the assault on Juan Jimenez, 78, of Perry.
He is held at the Dallas County Jail on $3 million bond.
In actions Thursday, attorney Jill Eimermann of the Iowa Public Defenders office, which is defending Hernandez-Ventura, said her client waived his right to a preliminary hearing.
Court-appointed interpreter Anna Cardenas-Pottebaum translated the proceedings into Spanish for Hernandez-Ventura, who wore headphones to listen to the translation.
“My client is waiving his right to a preliminary hearing today,” Eimermann told the judge, “and asking the court to set a date for arraignment.”
Before accepting the motion to waive the preliminary hearing, at which prosecutors present evidence to show probable cause for charging someone with a crime, Judge Cobb asked Hernandez-Ventura a series of question in order to verify he understood the proceedings.
At one point, she asked the defendant to speak his answers aloud instead of nodding his assent.
Assistant Dallas County Attorneys Erica Clark and Sean Wieser raised no objections to Hernandez-Ventura’s motion.
A date for arraignment, when Hernandez-Ventura will enter a plea, will be set once charges are formally filed with the court, Cobb said.
Jimenez remains in serious critical at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines.
“Juanito is still in a coma,” according to information on his Gofundme page. “He is going to go on a surgical procedure Thursday. The family is still hurting, anxious, worried. Keep praying.”
ThePerryNews.com will update this story as information becomes available.
