Hearing continued again for man charged in murder case
A hearing Thursday in Yuma County Superior Court for one of the three men charged in connection to a fatal shooting had to be postponed again because a settlement conference scheduled in the case has not been completed yet.
Attorney Paul Abbate explained the meeting, which initially lasted for two hours and had to continued, was supposed to resume on Monday, but he had to reschedule it for March 1.
He said he received more than 2,000 pages of discovery and he is still in the process of copying everything, and as such has not been able to review any of it yet.
Upon hearing no opposition from the prosecution, Superior Court Judge Roger Nelson granted Abbate’s request and scheduled his client’s next hearing for 8:30 a.m. on March 9.
Abbate represents Johnny Albert Valenzuela Escalante, who has been charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and first-degree murder. He remains in custody at the Yuma County jail on a $1 million cash-only bond.
Escalante was arrested in June by Somerton police, with the assistance of additional law enforcement personnel, at his residence in the city of Maricopa. He is the registered owner of the vehicle used in the killing and believed by police to have been the getaway driver.
Also arrested and charged in connection to the murder were brothers Joshua and Gregorio Cota.
On May 30, 2022, at approximately 3:35 a.m., Somerton police officers responded to the 400 block of East Orchid Street after receiving a 911 call reporting that a man had been shot.
When officers arrived on scene, they found a 28-year-old man with a gunshot wound inside a garage.
The man, identified as Leonardon Melendez, was transported by a Somerton Cocopah Fire Department ambulance to Yuma Regional Medical Center, where he later died.
The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office, Yuma Police Department, U.S. Marshals Service, Yuma County Narcotics Task Force, CBP Air and Marine, Homeland Security Investigations and the Department of Public Safety GIITEM Task Force, all assisted in the investigation.