Evidence delays start of double homicide trial
Additional evidence has delayed the start of a trial for a man accused of a double homicide in Southern Humboldt in 2018.
Defense attorney Andrea Sullivan in Humboldt County Superior Court on Monday requested that Judge Lawrence Killoran vacate the March 15 trial date for Ulisses Rodriguez, who is facing charges related to the homicide of 31-year-old Tiffany Ellebrecht and 32-year-old Jeremy Kuemmel on Aug. 14, 2018.
Sullivan said she was awaiting an expert’s statement, which also needs to be provided to prosecutors, and had an outstanding discovery request with the District Attorney’s Office that had been pending for some time.
Deputy District Attorney Luke Bernthal said the request was for cell phone evidence from a witness in the case who was arrested by the Humboldt County Drug Task Force for “a situation that, at least in our view, is not related to the homicide.”
Bernthal acknowledged the request had been pending for a while, but that it was also potentially privileged information that could not be disclosed.
“It has been taking me frankly more time than I had anticipated to work that out,” Bernthal said. “It’s a more complicated situation and deals with more documents than we usually deal with and it’s just frankly taking longer than I had anticipated.”
Two weeks would be enough time to get that information to Sullivan, Bernthal said.
Killoran vacated the trial for March 15 but kept the date for trial setting at 8:45 a.m.