Limmie Curry trial continued until March 9; Benjamin Carter's case set for trial on April 9

Benjamin Carter, who is charged with Count 1  murder. Count 2 is possession of a firearm. Two firearm enhancement allegations were added for both counts and a special allegation of prior and serious felony conviction. He is the suspect in the murder of Zachery Chapman.

Mr. Andrew Issac was in court today for the People; Mr. Michael Acosta is representing Carter. Both spoke before and after the court hearing. Mr. Issac told Judge John Feeney that "the case was on for a disposition and reset hearing today and that the parties had not reached a resolution." Last week, the defense made an offer for the People to review. Mr. Issac said that Mr. Acosta was going to file a 995 motion and Mr. Acosta said that it would be for two counts.

Jury trial has been set for April 6 at 8:30 a.m. and a Trial Confirmation hearing for March 11 at 2 p.m.

A California Penal Code 995 motion is  a request for the judge to dismiss one or more counts of the complaint.

Related posts to this Carter post:

johnchiv.blogspot.com/2015/01/offer-made-by-defense-in-benjamin.html
johnchiv.blogspot.com/2015/01/in-stiglich-case-they-charged-him-with.html

Limmie Curry, who is charged with the murder of William Reid, has already been tried once. He has been awaiting another trial since last July. Today, there was a trial readiness conference scheduled and the jury trial had been scheduled for February 9. The People filed another motion to continue. DDA Kelly Neel is prosecuting the case. The last continuance was granted because she was prosecuting the Brown case, which is currently in trial, and due to difficulty in getting in touch with witnesses.

Same reasons were given again. Curry pulled his previous time waiver on January 21, 2015. The People were going to ask for 45 days and a trail date of March 23, 2015.

Public Defender Casey Russo, who represents Curry, said he opposed the People's motion. He said that the "same reasons were stated in the last motion to continue." He said that since Curry's last trial ended last July, the People have had time to contact witnesses and he said, "these motions to continue have only recently been made."

Referring to Ms. Neel's unavailability due to being in trial, Mr. Russo said that it should be a limited time waiver.

Ms. Neel countered with, "People cannot be tasked with keeping track of every witness in every case. Mr. Curry recently pulled his time waiver and he has also requested continuances."

Judge John Feeney said that "he found good cause to grant the People's motion but not for as long as the People requested." Jury trial has been scheduled for March 9, 2015 and Trial Readiness is march 2 at 2 p.m.

Limmie Curry's father had come up for the trial. He has been there to support his son since he has been in custody. After court, we spoke and he said he wanted people to know "he supports his son and loves him."