Hollister
– A judge in October will decide whether a San Jose man should
stand trial for the murder of Hollister resident Elizabeth Esther
Gomez.
Hollister – A judge in October will decide whether a San Jose man should stand trial for the murder of Hollister resident Elizabeth Esther Gomez.
Samuel Ethan Turner, 25, has been charged with first-degree murder and a special allegation of mayhem – which makes him eligible for the death penalty – in the strangulation and stabbing death of the 31-year-old Gomez.
Superior Court Judge Steven Sanders scheduled the hearing to begin Oct. 22 and last for at least three days.
Authorities found Gomez slain March 13 in her second-story apartment bedroom in the 900 block of Prospect Avenue and arrested Turner, who officers found in the bedroom with the woman, the Hollister Police Department reported.
Turner in May pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges.
Defense attorney Harry Damkar requested a date in November to begin the preliminary hearing – at which prosecutors will present their case against Turner and a judge will decide if the man should stand trial – because of his investigation into the case.
“We’re still awaiting the reports, the medical reports we’ve requested,” Damkar said.
It will take Damkar at least 30 days to receive those reports, he said.
Damkar said he will call up to four witnesses in defense of Turner. Deputy District Attorney Stephen F. Wagner plans to call up to eight witnesses in the prosecution’s case against Turner, he said.
District Attorney Candice Hooper said in April that she’ll seek the death penalty for Turner. Hooper added the special allegation of mayhem because of involved brutality. Authorities have been unable to determine how many times Gomez was stabbed in her neck.
Both Turner and Gomez had been seen together in the days preceding her death, according to neighbors. The woman’s brother, Victor Gomez, has said the apartment manager told him she saw them two hours before the time of the suspected crime.
“She said they walked up the stairs holding hands,” Victor Gomez said in April.
Turner is being held at the San Benito County Jail without bail.
