Trial date set for former MCAS daycare worker

One of the two former employees of the Child Development Center at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma had her trial date affirmed on Wednesday in Yuma County Superior Court.

During the hearing, prosecutor Mary White of the Yuma County Attorney’s Office informed the court that she and Valerie Mckinstry’s attorney have both been working diligently on the case and are ready for trial.

White added that a plea deal has been offered and will remain available, and that they only need to interview one more witness and possibly some experts who may be called to testify.

Mckinstry, who is out of custody and represented by attorney Richard Edgar, has been charged with 13 counts of intentional child abuse.

Her trial is currently scheduled to begin on April 11vbefore Superior Court Judge David Haws and will continue until early June.

Her next hearing is at 8:30 a.m. March 8 for a final pretrial management conference.

Haws also ordered Edgar to turn in his list of witnesses and exhibits in a timely manner, as well as his jury instructions.

Mckinstry and Katherine Mccombs were charged with the offenses following a 10-month investigation in which they allegedly abused children on various occasions between December 2020 and March 2021.

MCAS Yuma learned of the alleged abuse in March of 2021 after reviewing surveillance camera footage inside the Child Development Center and informed Yuma police.

Mccombs, who is represented by attorney Joshua Cordova, has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of intentional child abuse.