A Solano County Superior Court judge has set a September preliminary hearing date for a brother and sister charged in connection to the late-October killing in Fairfield of a 19-year-old Carmel woman.
Court records show that Jessica Yesenia Quintanilla, 21, and Marco Antonio Quintanilla, 27, both of Pittsburg, appeared Friday in Department 11, where Judge William J. Pendergast ordered them to return at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 20 for the hearing in the Justice Center in Fairfield.
Pendergast also scheduled a prehearing matter, a readiness conference, at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 4. Marco, a previously convicted felon, also will face a parole revocation hearing at that time.
A preliminary hearing is like a mini-trial, with the presentation of evidence and witness testimony, and a judge may determine there is enough evidence to warrant a held-to-answer arraignment and schedule a jury trial.
The Quintanillas’ latest court date comes after their initial arraignment was previously scheduled on Nov. 4, when the defense counsel at the time requested a rescheduling to bring in a private attorney the family had hired. The judge granted the request.
Jessica is represented by San Francisco-based attorney William Alan Welch. She is being held without bail on first-degree murder charges in Solano County Jail in Fairfield.
Marco, who is represented by San Francisco attorney Laurie D. Savill, is charged with being an accessory in the case and violating his parole associated with a felony conviction for attempted murder. He was previously being held at the Stanton Correctional Facility in Fairfield on $50,000 bail, but, on Feb. 2, he posted bail on the parole charge and was released.
Court records show that Jessica previously was represented by the Public Defender. Marco was represented by the Alternate Public Defender. They have entered not-guilty pleas.
On Oct. 30, the Fairfield Police Department received a missing person report for Leilani Beauchamp, 19, who was last seen leaving a Halloween party in Sacramento earlier that morning with two active-duty airmen from Travis Air Force Base who were living off-base on Cascade Lane in Fairfield.
Fairfield officers worked with Travis AFB’s Office of Special Investigations and the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, as Beauchamp’s remains were later discovered in Salinas.
Lt. Jausiah Jacobsen, the Fairfield department’s public information officer, said warrants were issued to search the Cascade Lane residence on Oct. 31.
Police investigators ended up arresting three in connection with the killing: the Quintanillas and Juan Parra-Peralta, 20 at the time, one of the airmen who lived in the house.
Court records show that Parra-Peralta was not charged in the case and is not in custody. The second airman Beauchamp left with has not been publicly identified and was not arrested.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Paul Sequeira told reporters after Nov. 2 proceedings that the killing may have stemmed from a “love triangle situation” as the investigation continued.
At the time, Jacobsen said it has not yet been confirmed how all the parties knew each other.
Last year, officials at the Travis AFB’s Public Affairs Office would not comment on specifics of Parra-Peralta’s involvement in the case or his status at the base, issuing a brief statement that the investigation was being handled by the Fairfield Police Department.
Source: www.mercurynews.com