Man charged with murder in bar shooting
A criminal complaint was filed Tuesday afternoon in Yuma Justice Court against the man who allegedly shot and killed a 37-year-old man inside the Maverick Bar early Sunday morning.
Carlos Moreno Leal Jr., 38, was arraigned before Justice of the Peace Greg Stewart, who informed him that prosecutors, after reviewing the case against him, were charging him one count of first-degree murder and one count of misconduct involving weapons.
Attorney Kris Moe of the Yuma County Public Defender’s Office, who was representing Leal only for Tuesday’s hearing, waived the formal reading of the complaint and further advisement of Leal’s rights.
She also entered not guilty pleas on his behalf for each of the charges.
When asked if she would like to be heard on conditions of release, Moe said she did not have any of the information from the case yet and asked that Leal’s bond be reduced to $500,000.
Judge Stewart, however, denied the request, citing Leal’s previous violent convictions, and ordered his bond remain as the $1 million cash-only bond that it had been set at during a previous hearing.
Stewart also informed Leal that his case would likely go before the grand jury in the next few weeks to determine if there was enough probable cause for it to proceed to Superior Court. If there wasn’t, Stewart said, Leal would then return to Justice Court for a preliminary hearing, which Stewart scheduled for 4 p.m. on Dec. 27.
According to Yuma police, officers responded to the Maverick Bar, 1460 S. 4th Ave., at approximately 12:39 a.m. Sunday in reference to an aggravated assault.
When they arrived on scene, they found a man with a gunshot wound. The man, identified as 37-yearold Joseph Benjamin Roosevelt, was transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
A suspect, later identified as Leal, was later located in the 1300 block of South 5th Avenue and taken into custody without incident.