Man pleads not guilty in murder case

Hearing set for Newhall suspect

A Newhall man accused of shooting his childhood pal and dumping his body down a ravine near Sand Canyon Road pleaded not guilty to murder Monday, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said.

David Aladana, 21, was arraigned Monday in San Fernando Superior Court on a felony charge of “willful, deliberate and premeditated murder” in the death of his friend Maximiliano Bernal, also 21.

“Aladana pleaded not guilty at his arraignment,” D.A. spokeswoman Shiara Davila-Morales said.

He was ordered to appear back in court April 1 to set a date for a preliminary hearing. During that hearing, prosecutors will present evidence in the case, and the defense can respond, after which the judge will decide if the case should go to trial.

Aladana turned himself in at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office in San Ysidro on Feb. 24, prosecutors said.

The next day, he

allegedly led homicide detectives to the area of mile marker 7.89 on Sand Canyon Road, where they found “the victim’s body and discovered he had been shot at least one time in the upper

torso,” Lt. Eddie Hernandez of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau said last month.

Bernal’s body was discovered near a turnout shortly after 10:45 a.m. on Feb. 25.

The felony complaint filed against Aladana includes the allegation that the murder was committed with a handgun.

His bail was set at $2 million. If convicted as charged, Aladana faces 50 years to life in state prison.