SAN ANGELO, TX- This morning, in the 51st Judicial District Court room of Judge Barbara Walther, two capital murder defendants awaited their turn during criminal pre-trial hearings.
Elisa Losoya, 29, and Fernando Lavaris, 30, are facing Capital Murder by Terror/Other Felony charges. On or about the Aug. 31, 2015, Losoya and Lavaris, according to the indictment, “did then and there intentionally" caused the death of 69-year-old William Valdez, by shooting him with a firearm, during the course of committing, or attempting to commit, the offense of burglary of a habitation (see our previous stories here, here and here).
At 10:30 a.m., Losoya’s pre-trial began first.
Three State attorney’s, Allison Palmer, Knight and Villarreal were all seated to the left of the courtroom. Whereas, Jessica Skinner, Defense attorney, sat on the right of the room.
Losoya entered the courtroom being escorted by Tom Green County Sheriff's Office deputies. She was dressed in an orange jumpsuit with chains around her wrists and ankles. The pre-trial was brief, but as for now, Walther addressed that Skinner would be Losoya’s attorney for now.
To begin, Walther looked at Losoya and said, “As you know, William Valdez has passed away.”
Losoya quickly responded, “Yes ma’am.”
During the hearing, attorneys discussed Losoya needing a death penalty lawyer. Walther explained that the court is in the process of finding a lawyer for the defendant.
“Hopefully, by next week, we will have someone notify you about an attorney,” Walther concluded.
At 11 a.m., Lavaris’ appeared before Walther, and he was also escorted into the courtroom by TGCSO deputies as well, and was placed in between his two Defense attorneys. Lavaris was dressed in civilian clothes, with no chains around his wrists or ankles.
Judge Walther explained, “We are here simply here for a pre-trial and to set trial dates.”
Discussion of dates were conversed back and forth between Walther and the State. Due to Palmer being involved in another capital murder case, scheduling pre-trials and a jury trial for a second capital murder case is difficult.
Walther said, “At this point, the best I can do is help us pick another pre-trial date. We will vacate the trial date and set a pre-trial date.”
As of now, all parties have agreed to have the next pre-trial date for Lavaris on Feb. 1 at 11 a.m.
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