Judge grants defense request for continuance
Another continuance was granted Thursday in Yuma County Superior Court for one of the three men charged in connection to a fatal shooting.
In asking that the hearing be postponed for 30 to 45 days, attorney Paul Abbate informed the court that he still has a lot of discovery to review and discuss with his client.
He added that he also had to cancel a settlement conference, which initially lasted for two hours and had to be continued, for the same reason.
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.
Since the prosecution did not object to the request, Superior Court Judge Roger Nelson granted Abbate’s request and scheduled Escalante’s next hearing for 8:30 a.m. on April 13.
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.
Arriving officers found a 28-year-old man with a gunshot wound inside a garage.
The man, identified as Leonardo Melendez, was transported by a Somerton Cocopah Fire Department ambulance to Yuma Regional Medical Center, where he later died.