Ruis-Martinez v. Superior Court CA6
Petitioner Brandon Ruiz-Martinez is a defendant in a gang-related double murder prosecution pending in Santa Cruz County Superior Court. Six other defendants (the Escobar defendants) were arrested in late 2014 and held to answer on October 6, 2015, following a lengthy preliminary hearing. Petitioner, who was not apprehended and arrested until November 2015, was charged by separate indictment in April 2016. An eighth defendant, Marcos Robles, was separately indicted at the same time. The prosecutor moved under Penal Code section 1098 to join petitioner and Robles with the Escobar defendants for a single trial. Petitioner opposed that motion and asserted his right to a speedy trial. The trial court granted the prosecutor’s motion, but simultaneously set petitioner for his own trial in August 2016, within the 60-day statutory period established by section 1382.
Comments on Ruis-Martinez v. Superior Court CA6