A double murder case against a man accused of shooting and killing his former girlfriend and her son in ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe has been dismissed by prosecutors, who say the murder charges will be refiled after more work is completed on the case.
Meanwhile, Jose Antonio “Adrian†Roman, 45, has pleaded guilty to a federal gun charge in the incident and remains in custody.
Roman pleaded guilty in federal court earlier this month to a charge of “alien illegally or unlawfully in possession of a firearm.†He has not yet been sentenced in that case but faces up to 15 years in prison and three years of probation, a spokesperson from the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
According to a criminal complaint filed in the federal case late last year, Roman is an undocumented immigrant who had been arrested for entering the U.S. illegally on three occasions in 1997, 1998 and 2001 and removed from the country.
When he was arrested in November, he admitted to being present in the U.S. unlawfully, and authorities found him in possession of the 12-gauge shotgun believed to have been the murder weapon, the federal complaint states.
Roman had faced two counts of first-degree murder and eight other felony charges in state District Court in the November shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend Carmen Navarrete and her teen son, Axel Gonzales. Navarrete had a restraining order against Roman, alleging he had battered her in the months beforehand.
Prosecutors dismissed the charges Tuesday, writing the testing and analysis of DNA and cellphone evidence had not yet been completed.
First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced the dismissal in a statement Wednesday.
“The [First Judicial District Attorney] is aware this decision will be met with a degree of scrutiny,†she wrote, “yet a voluntary dismissal on our part can be a routine practice when a case is not ready to proceed to trial.â€
She wrote prosecutors had discussed their decision with Navarrete’s surviving family members.
A judge had ordered prosecutors to provide documents related to DNA and fingerprint evidence testing to Roman’s public defender during a court hearing in August so witness interviews could take place ahead of a jury trial that was then scheduled for October.
Public defender Jennifer Burrill said at the time prosecutors had failed to meet deadlines for providing documents and
witness lists throughout the case.
Reports she did receive from prosecutors “gave no indication that anyone ever followed up with the lab†about the outstanding DNA evidence testing, she said in an interview Wednesday.
In her statement, Carmack-
Altwies pointed to a proposed case management order set to take effect in the district as soon as January that would further tighten the amount of time prosecutors have to provide evidence. She wrote it would “instill the practice of dismissing district court cases pending complete discovery, which includes even the most egregious and shocking cases that come through our office.†Carmack-Altwies wrote the proposed order “has garnered little attention despite its impact on the criminal justice system in our district.â€
The proposed order has been met with pushback from prosecutors, law enforcement agencies and public defenders, who have all indicated the agencies do not have the proper staffing and budgets for such a change. Burrill called the order “more oversight for a system that’s already overtaxed†and noted prosecutors were “not complying with the rules currently in effect.â€
