Change of plea hearing postponed for shooting suspect
Citing the need for a new counsel to be assigned to the case, attorney Robert Schapiro, of the Yuma County Legal Defender’s Office, on Wednesday asked for a postponement of a plea hearing for one of the two suspects charged in connection to the shooting of a 22-year-old Somerton man.
Schapiro, when asked by Superior Court Judge Brandon Kinsey to provide the court with an update on the status of the case, explained that he was not ready to proceed with the hearing because it had been transferred to his office late Tuesday afternoon.
He went on to say that the case had previously been assigned to the Yuma County Public Defender’s Office, and his office hadn’t even appointed an attorney to represent Anthony Carbajal Serrano.
Serrano, who remains in custody at the Yuma County jail on a $500,000 cash-only bond, has been charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and burglary and possession of a weapon by a prohibited possessor.
A settlement conference had also been scheduled in the case, but prosecutor Nathaniel Sorenson, of the Yuma County Attorney’s Office, informed the court that the defense submitted a written motion on March 18 asking that it be vacated.
Judge Kinsey, after hearing from both attorneys, granted Schapiro’s request for a continuance, and rescheduled Serrano’s change of plea hearing for 8:30 a.m. April 11.
According to Somerton police, officers found out about the July shooting, while investigating a traffic accident on Highway 95 at milepost 13. Upon their arrival on scene, officers learned that a passenger in one of the vehicles involved in the traffic crash had been shot moments earlier in Somerton.
The victim, a 22-year-old male who had been shot once, was transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center by paramedics from the Cocopah/Somerton Fire Department. He was later airlifted to a medical facility in Phoenix.
The driver of the crashed vehicle was attempting to take the victim to YRMC when the accident occurred.
Investigating officers also learned the shooting had occurred at an address in the 600 block of East Orchid Street in Somerton prior to the traffic crash. Officers responded to the location, which was found to be unoccupied, and the scene was secured for crime scene processing.
During the course of the investigation, Serrano and Martin Guzman were identified as suspects. They were both taken into custody without incident on July 27 at a residence in the 3100 block of West 17¾ Street in Somerton.
Guzman has a changeof-plea hearing in Yuma County Superior Court scheduled for 8:30 a.m. April 19.