WOODLAND — In light of an ongoing investigation that a prosecutor described as “massive,” Monday’s scheduled preliminary hearing for the five defendants in a downtown Davis homicide has been delayed until at least early December.
The suspects and their attorneys gathered Monday morning in Yolo Superior Court, where one of the lawyers, Robert Spangler, presented visiting Judge Stephen Mock with a motion to continue the hearing due to the slow pace of the discovery-sharing process.
Supervising Deputy District Attorney Garrett Hamilton, who is prosecuting the case, said it could be another four weeks before the remaining evidence is fully handed over to the defense.
“It’s a massive investigation,” Hamilton told Mock. He said while his office released a “large quantity” of discovery on Friday and expected to share more on Monday, “there are considerable amounts of investigation that continue.”
Hamilton said part of that probe includes a detailed look at several hours’ worth of surveillance video taken inside the KetMoRee nightclub at Third and G streets around the early hours of Sept. 19, when 23-year-old Peter Alexander Gonzales of Los Angeles was fatally stabbed during an altercation.
Prosecutors also are awaiting information from police in Vacaville, where the defendants are alleged to have ties to Norteño-affiliated street gangs. All five also have prior criminal convictions in Solano County, as does a sixth suspect who remains at large.
“I certainly hope that the vast majority of discovery will be turned over in the next four weeks,” Hamilton said. “It’s a hope, but also I think realistic as well.”
Mock set the preliminary hearing — a proceeding to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for a case to proceed to trial — to begin Dec. 2 in Judge David Rosenberg’s courtroom. The parties will return to court Nov. 20 for a status conference.
The five defendants — Carlos Biviescas, Martyn Contreras, Anthony Rivera, Zackary Sandeno and Victor Vergara — have pleaded not guilty to murder and criminal street-gang activity charges. They remain on no-bail holds at the Yolo County Jail.
Police continue to seek the sixth suspect, Sandeno’s younger brother Joseph Sandeno, 20.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene
