Judge Changes Venue for Jury Selection in Delacruz Capital Murder Trial

SAN ANGELO, TX – In court this morning, 119^th District Judge Ben Woodward changed the location where approximately 300 potential jurors will be screened in the capital murder trial of Isidro Delacruz.

Delacruz is accused of cutting the throat of 5-year-old Naiya Villegas in September of 2014.

In a pretrial hearing at the Tom Green County Courthouse, Woodward instructed District Clerk Sheri Woodfin to include an agenda item allowing county commissioners to designate the McNease Convention Center as a 'court'' during the next   Tom Green County Commissioners Court meeting. The jury selection for the Delacruz trial cannot take place in the Tom Green County Courthouse as there is no courtroom large enough for all the potential jurors. 

Previously, the Commissioner’s Court had designated the new San Angelo Performing Arts Center as a ‘court’ for jury selection, but Woodward announced today that there were logistical and security concerns at the location. 

Also during this morning’s pretrial, defense attorneys Cowie and Reece made a motion to limit a psychological examination of Delacruz to only specific issues that may be introduced as evidence in the trial and that the examination be videotaped, and that the state not be allowed to see that evidence until it was presented in court.  District Attorney Allison Palmer argued that her office needed to see the results of the examination in order to prepare to rebut it.

Woodward ordered that the examination be conducted with specific areas designated by the defense and that the state be allowed to examine the evidence. 

Woodward also ordered that personnel records requested by the defense be provided and that those records not be allowed to be seen by anyone but the defense attorneys. Cowie and Reece agreed with the exception that Delacruz be allowed to see the records as long as the names and addresses and any other identifying information be redacted. 

Jury selection is set to begin the end of July. Delacruz’s next pretrial hearing is set for July 10 at 2 p.m. in the Tom Green County Courthouse.