Hearings for shooting suspects continued
Four juveniles being charged as adults in July murder of 20-year-old
All six of the suspects — four of whom are juveniles — charged in connection to July’s fatal shooting of a 20-year-old man, appeared together in Yuma Superior Court on Tuesday before Superior Court Judge Stephen Rouff, who rescheduled their hearings.
In providing the court with an update on the status of the case, prosecutor James Eustace, of the Yuma County Attorney’s Office, asked for an eight-week continuance, saying it was due to the large amount of disclosure in the cases.
“Given the amount of disclosure, it will take some time for everyone to go through,” Eustace said.
Eustace also asked that all of the cases be designated as complex cases, which Judge Rouff agreed to do.
A complex case designation adds 90 to 120 days (depending on if the defendant is in custody or out of custody) to the total maximum amount of time that the prosecutor has to bring the case to trial.
Normally the prosecution has 150 days from the time of the arraignment to take a case to trial. A complex case designation, however, extends that time to 270 days.
Attorney William Katz, of the Yuma County Public Defender’s Office, who represents 19-year-old Daniel Contreras, also informed the court that he would be filing a motion to have his client’s case remanded back to the grand jury.
Attorneys Michael Donovan, Michael Wimerer, and Julie McDonald, who represent the juveniles and Raymond Vacca, who represents 21-year-old Juan Torres, said that they would also be filing motions to remand.
Rouff, who is presiding over the cases, explained to each of the attorneys that he would approve all of their motions once he receives them. He then rescheduled all of their hearings for 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 24.
Contreras and Torres are both being held a $1 million cash bonds and have been charged with a combined 50 felony offenses and two misdemeanors in the death of Leondre Richards, including one count each of first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and kidnapping.
Torres has also been charged with three counts of burglary, six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, three counts of armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, three counts of aggravated robbery, four counts of endangerment and one count of criminal damage.
In addition to misdemeanor counts of criminal damage and disorderly conduct, Contreras has been charged with the following felony offenses; six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, four counts of endangerment, and three counts of aggravated robbery.
He has also been charged with three counts of burglary, three counts of armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of criminal damage.
The juveniles — three of whom were 17 years old and one who was 15 years old — are being charged as adults in the case and are also facing charges of firstdegree murder, attempted 2nd-degree murder, and kidnapping.
They are also facing multiple burglary, armed robbery, aggravated robbery, criminal damage, aggravated assault and endangerment charges.
Justice of the Peace Juan Guerrero, who presided over each of the arraignments in Yuma Justice Court in July, ordered that their identities be withheld due to their ages.
All six suspects are believed to have committed a series of three home invasions on the morning of Sunday, July 9 looking for drugs and money, with Richards’ murder happening at the last of the three homes.
According to Yuma police, the first home invasion occurred at a residence earlier in the evening on 20th Avenue, but the suspects, two of whom were armed, fled the scene when the resident pulled his own gun in self-defense.
At the second home, which was on 9th Avenue, the suspects allegedly tied up the resident and pistol whipped him before leaving empty-handed.
Then at approximately 3:37 a.m. Sunday, Yuma police responded to a report of a disturbance in the 1600 block of West 8th Street, where officers located two victims with gunshot wounds.
The male victim, now known to be Richards, was pronounced dead at the scene. A female victim, who is now known to be Richards’ mother, was transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center, where she was then flown to Phoenix for further treatment.