Trial date vacated for man charged in double murder
A Yuma County Superior Court judge has vacated an April trial date for a man charged in connection to a double homicide so the defense can hire an expert witness to provide testimony in the case.
Attorney Antonio Bustamante of the Yuma County Public Defender’s Office made the request in a written motion Thursday during a final pretrial conference hearing in Yuma County Superior Court.
Bustamante represents Francisco Dominguez, who has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of misconduct with weapons.
Prosecutor Karolyn Kaczorowski of the Yuma County Attorney’s Office opposed the motion, saying the state is prepared for trial, and after nearly two years the defense should be as well.
“The state does not object to the defense hiring an expert witness, we object to the trial being continued,” Kaczorowski said.
Bustamante said the defense is ready for trial but has had difficulty trying to hire the expert witness due to his schedule; therefore, he has not had any time to prepare.
While Judge Roger Nelson
admonished Bustamante for not having an expert witness lined up sooner, he added that he also had no choice but to delay the trial.
He then scheduled Dominguez’s next hearing for 1:30 p.m. on April 27 and ordered that the expert witness be present to discuss when he would be available so a new trial date could be set.
According to Yuma police, officers responded to the 1200 block of West 3rd Street at approximately 5:16 a.m. on Nov. 20, 2021, for a report of a shooting.
When officers arrived on scene, they found two men who had been shot.
The first man, who was later identified as 43-yearold Pedro Aguayo Ramos, was pronounced dead at the scene. The other man, 38-year-old Christian Gonzalez, died at 1:30 p.m. the same day at a Phoenix-area hospital.
Yuma police arrested Dominguez that day.