DeLand, FL – The Deltona man charged with killing his wife and 2 step-kids nearly 2 years ago wants the judge to rule on a series of motions before his trial begins next year.
33-year-old Luis Toledo was at the Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand on Monday and is scheduled to come back on Tuesday as 7th Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano hears the legal arguments from Toledo’s attorneys as well as prosecutors.
Chief among those motions is a request to postpone Toledo’s death penalty trial – scheduled for January 3, 2016 – indefinitely until the United States Supreme Court decides if Florida’s death sentencing guidelines are or aren’t violating the Constitution.
Jeff Deen – Toledo’s attorney – argued that waiting on the nation’s highest court to make its verdict on Hurst v. Florida makes sense because he can’t give his client proper advice until that case is settled.
Ed Davis – a prosecutor for 7th Circuit State Attorney RJ Larizza’s office – argued that there’s always pending death penalty cases on the docket and that it doesn’t make sense to delay the trial for that reason.
Other motions from Toledo’s legal team include the jury not hearing about Toledo’s alleged ties to the Latin Kings gang and certain statements the 33-year-old man made to law enforcement, including those where Toledo allegedly admitted to killing Yessenia Suarez but denied killing her kids, 9-year-old Thalia Otto and 8-year-old Michael Otto.
Issues surrounding Toledo’s alleged gang ties led prosecutors and Toledo’s lawyers to agree to push the trial start date back 4 months during a similar hearing over the summer.
Toledo is also asking the judge to have the case heard outside of Volusia County due to heavy media coverage.
Zambrano hasn’t ruled on any of the motions at this time but is expected to rule on some of them before the end of the week.
Toledo is charged with second-degree murder in Suarez’s presumed death and first-degree murder in the presumed death of her kids.
Toledo has been in Volusia County Jail since October 23, 2013. That’s when he was arrested and charged.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office says Toledo admitted to killing Suarez after she allegedly cheated on him with a co-worker.
Toledo has entered not guilty pleas for all murder counts and has constantly received delays in his trial date for various reasons, almost all related to requests made by his legal team.
Authorities have not found the bodies of Suarez or of her children despite numerous search efforts made by VCSO as well as by some of Suarez’s family members. They are presumed dead at this point by VCSO.
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.