Finally: Jury Trial Date Set for Delacruz

SAN ANGELO, TX- After a little over two years of motions and continuances, Isidro Delacruz, 26, will finally begin his jury trial this year.

This afternoon, at 2 p.m., Delacruz appeared at another Pre-Trial hearing in the 119^th District Court of Judge Ben Woodward. Escorted by Tom Green County Sheriff Deputies, Delacruz sat next to his lawyer and waited for the hearing to begin.

Woodward opened the hearing by getting straight to the point.

“The purpose for today’s hearing is to set a trial [date],” he said.

Quickly the Defense explained that they would need another six to nine months before the Delacruz trial could begin. Due to another trial taking place soon, the Defense did not want there to be a time conflict within the two cases.

Woodward responded to this by saying he would not move the trial date again after setting this jury trial date. Next, Woodward asked both the State and Defense if there would be any conflicts for the dates they desired. The State responded by saying, “The sooner the better. This is [our] oldest [murder] case.”

Woodward responded, “I was looking [to begin] in mid-July,” and finish the trial by Sept. 1.

For a moment, in silence, Woodward took his time looking over possible scheduling dates. Woodward finally declared July 31 as the trial date. He added, “[We will] press on until we are finished.”

In the seven months until the jury trial, Woodward brought up that more Pre-Trial dates will be scheduled. Although mostly everything has been sorted out between the Defense and the State in previous Pre-Trials, Woodward said, “I don’t think there is much left to Pre-Trial.”

The Defense explained that, if anything, they would only file a few more motions. Whereas the State said they have filed all they needed to.

Woodward decided to schedule three Pre-Trial dates in case anything arises that the State or Defense would like to address. Those dates are as follows:

• Feb. 17 at 1:30 p.m.
• May 31 at 2:00 p.m.
• July 10 at 2:00 p.m.