DeLand, FL – The Deltona man facing the death penalty for killing his wife and her 2 kids over 2 years ago is going back to court on Friday.
33-year-old Luis Toledo is expected to be in attendance at the Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand for another pre-trial hearing where 8 motions filed by the defense and prosecutors will be heard by Volusia County Judge Raul Zambrano.
Toledo has entered not guilty pleas for the October 2013 murders of 29-year-old Yessenia Suarez and her children, 9-year-old Thalia Otto and 8-year-old Michael Otto. He’s been held in custody at Volusia County Jail ever since.
Authorities have not found any of the bodies despite search efforts made by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office and private search firms working on behalf of Suarez’s family members. All 3 are presumed dead at this point by VCSO.
Among the motions being heard on Friday is Toledo’s request to move the trial outside of Volusia County due to the heavy media coverage and to make sure that prosecutors can’t tell the jury about his alleged leadership role in the Latin Kings gang.
Prosecutors want the judge to compel the release of Toledo’s credit reports and force him to submit to physical measurements, especially of his feet.
This comes just over a week after Zambrano handed down rulings on other motions made by Toledo’s legal team. In those rulings, Zambrano determined that Toledo’s arrest was legal but did grant his request to ban certain statements made to law enforcement based on investigators not reading him his Miranda rights beforehand.
In a victory for prosecutors, one of the statements allowed in by Zambrano was a confession from Toledo that he killed Suarez and her kids. VCSO says Toledo – who lived with Suarez and her kids at a home on Covent Gardens Drive – made that admission after Suarez allegedly cheated on him with a co-worker.
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.
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.