Third Continuance Granted for Isidro Delacruz

SAN ANGELO, TX- Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m., in the 119^th District Court, Judge Ben Woodward presided over another criminal pre-trial and motion hearing for Isidro Delacruz.

Delacruz is on trial for the murder of five-year-old Naiya Villegas, and faces the death penalty. Previous stories about Delacruz can be found here.

Tuesday’s hearing addressed 16 different motions by the Defense. Judge Woodward denied seven of those motions, granted three, fulfilled two, and for another motion with multiple parts, he both denied and granted. Another motion had no ruling, one is awaiting a vior dire (a preliminary examination of a witness or a juror by a judge), and Woodward will study another one further.

The hearing began with the Defense asking questions about the jury pool for Delacruz’s trial. Around 3,000 jury notices were sent out all together. Out of those 3,000, the court explained that only 400 plus have been chosen to participate in the jury pool selection.

Woodward said the “jury summons was for Jan. 4,” but no information was given to the possible jurors on what case they would be selected for.

One problem that still must be sorted out by the court is where it will hold over 400 possible jurors during the selection process. The Defense explained that in order for Delacruz to have a fair trial, the Defense and State would need to see the entire panel at once.

The motion brought up next addressed language that will be used in the courtroom by the Defense and State during the time of the trial. This means, during the trial, people will be addressed by their name, not as “the victim” or “the defendant.”

The same motion also included that the “State will be referred to as the State, not the people or the government,” as said by court records.

The next motion mentioned by the Defense included the jury again. This motion addressed reservations the jury may have against the death penalty. The Defense requested that the judge order the jury to set aside their reservations while trying this case.

Woodward responded to this motion by saying, “I’m going to deny this motion. You can always object.”

Another motion the Defense brought forward had to do with the reducing juror stress. Since trials can be very lengthy in time, the Defense emphasized this may be an issue. Therefore, Woodward said, “I will be cognizant of breaks and long days.”

The court document added that the court will be aware of jurors’ comfort. The State added that, in some trials, the jury prefers longer days to have the trial over with quicker. To acknowledge the State, Woodward said, “I won’t set any specific hours [for the trial].”

Half way through the hearing, the Defense explained to Woodward that they have been unable to talk to teachers within the San Angelo school district. Teachers have been informed that they are not allowed to speak to the Defense attorneys, even if they want to. The Defense saw a problem with this. They explained that they did not want to force or subpoena anyone to speak to them if they did not want to, but if an employee of SAISD wanted to speak to them, he or she should be able to.

Woodward did see a dilemma in this, so he decided he would study this further. He mentioned, however, his concern that no one from SAISD was there to defend against the order requested. Within the court, it was explained that this was a matter between an administrative law versus constitutional law.

The last motion on the agenda for Tuesday's hearing was for a motion of continuance. This is the third time that a continuance has been motioned and granted by Judge Woodward.

The Defense explained the reasons for this continuance was due to the 9,000 files of CPS records the Defense is still filing through.The Defense noted that, throughout the files, hundreds of witnesses have been found and are being sought for interviews.

In hopes of persuading the judge, the Defense called two attorneys from Austin as witnesses to testify on behalf of approving the continuance. Carlos Garcia and Alexander Calhoun gave their expert opinion on why the Defense should receive extra time to seek out witnesses and interview them.

After that, and after a 10-minute recess, Woodward came to the decision of granting the continuance. Therefore, another pre-trial date has been set to take place on Jan. 4, 2017 at 2 p.m. instead of jury selection.