Judge grants continuance for man charged in shooting
A Superior Court judge on Thursday granted a defense request for a continuance for one of the three men charged in connection to a shooting last year that left one man dead.
Attorney Dextron Nye, of the Yuma County Public Defender’s Office, made the request on behalf of Joshua Cota’s court-appointed attorney Richard Parks.
Nye explained to the court that a settlement conference was recently held in the case and that Parks and the prosecution are having discussions.
Upon hearing no opposition from the prosecution, Superior Court Judge Roger Nelson granted Nye’s request.
He also scheduled Cota’s next hearing for 8:30 a.m. on March 16.
Cota has been charged with premeditated first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of 28-year-old Leonardo Melendez. He remains in custody at the Yuma County jail on a $1 million cash-only bond.
Cota and his brother Gregorio were arrested by Somerton police on July 7 2022, while Johnny Valenzuela Escalante was taken into custody on July 10 at his residence in Maricopa.
Escalante is also the registered owner of the vehicle used in the killing and is believed to have been the getaway driver, according to police.
On May 30, 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 man with a gunshot wound inside a garage.
The man, later identified as Melendez, was transported by a Somerton Cocopah Fire Department ambulance to Yuma Regional Medical Center, where he later died.