Hearing for suspect in murder postponed again
A Superior Court judge has said that he will take into consideration a request from one of the two suspects charged in connection to a 2019 fatal shooting that he be appointed a new attorney.
The request for a change in counsel, however, was only one of the matters that was addressed during a hearing for Gabriel Aragon in Yuma County Superior Court on Thursday.
When asked to provide the court with an update on the status of the case, attorney Paul Abbate, who represents Aragon, asked for a continuance, saying that he has made several requests with the prosecution to make arrangements to have his client transported to his office.
He explained that the case is likely going to trial now since he and the prosecution were not able to reach a beneficial conclusion in a recently held settlement conference.
As such, Abbate continued, he needs his client brought to his office on Fridays so they can go through all of the evidence in the case together. He added that he thought it would take about a month to complete.
Prosecutor Megan Gallagher of the Yuma County Attorney’s Office informed the court that the state has agreed to the request, but no arrangements have been made yet due to the prosecutor assigned to the case being out sick.
After ordering that the arrangements be made, Superior Court Judge Roger Nelson granted Abbate’s request and scheduled Aragon’s next hearing for 8:30 a.m. on March 3.
Aragon has been charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, theft, and theft of means of transportation in the death of 26-year-old Manuel Gonzalez-Bravo.
He has also been charged with hindering prosecution and two counts of criminal damage and remains in custody in the Yuma County jail on a $1 million cash-only bond.
On March 8, 2019, at 4:14 a.m. deputies from the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Chevron convenience store at 2003 W. 8th St. in Yuma in reference to a shooting.
When deputies arrived, they found a male victim with multiple gunshot wounds in a vehicle parked at the gas pump island. The victim, who was later identified as Gonzalez-Bravo, was transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Anthony Guillen, who remains in custody at the Yuma County jail, has also been charged in connection to the case.