DeLand, FL – A Volusia County judge is considering a request to not let a jury hear any of the statements made to investigators by a Deltona man facing the death penalty for killing his wife and her 2 kids over 2 years ago.
7th Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano is expected to make a ruling on that motion in the Luis Toledo triple murder case the day before Thanksgiving.
Toledo’s attorneys also argued during Tuesday’s pre-trial hearing at the Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand that the 33-year-old man was illegally arrested and questioned by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office after Yessenia Suarez and her children disappeared in October 2013.
VCSO says Toledo – who lived with the 29-year-old Suarez and his step-kids at a home on Covent Gardens Drive – admitted to killing her after she allegedly cheated on him with a co-worker but denied hurting or killing 9-year-old Thalia Otto and 8-year-old Michael Otto.
Toledo has entered not guilty pleas for all 3 murder counts and authorities have not found any of the bodies despite search efforts made by VCSO as well as by some of Suarez’s family members. All 3 are presumed dead at this point by VCSO.
During the hearing, Toledo’s defense team said his arrest was invalid because the Lake Mary Police Department – which had charged him with battery in a domestic incident at Suarez’s job the day before she went missing – arrested him in Deltona and took him to Volusia County Jail, something they say LMPD didn’t have the authority to do.
The defense also claimed VCSO continued to question Toledo without an attorney present while he was in custody even though he had asked for an attorney at least 3 times.
Prosecutors argued that Toledo knew he was free to go back to his jail cell at any time during questioning because he hadn’t been charged with the murders and that Toledo voluntarily kept talking to investigators even after he was told they weren’t going to find an attorney for him.
The prosecution claims that Toledo wasn’t invoking his right to legal counsel but was demanding that investigators find an attorney for him, something they’re not legally required to do.
Toledo’s trial is scheduled to start on January 11th after numerous attempts by his legal team to have it delayed for various reasons, including because of complications stemming from Hurst v. Florida, another death penalty case that’s been taken up by the United States Supreme Court.
Toledo’s legal team has also asked the judge to move the case outside of Volusia County due to heavy media coverage and to ban from the jury from hearing about Toledo allegedly being a high-ranking member of the Latin Kings gang. No ruling has been made on those motions.
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.