Preliminary hearings have concluded for three of the five suspects in the 2017 murder of Jesus Avila.
Hearings began Monday in the case and concluded Wednesday afternoon for 22-year-old Jordy Corjeno-Campoverde and 21-year-old Armando Nunez. 22-year-old Andrew Granado waived his right to a preliminary hearing Monday.
Granado is now set for an arraignment and pretrial hearing on Dec. 10 at 2 pm in Lyon County District Court. Granado faces multiple felony counts including conspiracy to commit premeditated first-degree murder, first-degree murder premeditated, felony murder in the commission of aggravated robbery and conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery amongst other charges.
Cornejo-Campoverde was bound over for an arraignment and pretrial hearing at 2 pm on Dec. 3 for the same list of charges. Nunez also has an arraignment and pretrial hearing scheduled for Dec. 3 at 2 pm and is facing a single count of aggravated robbery, a misdemeanor count of theft and one count of interference of law enforcement. Other felony charges against Nunez were dismissed by the state due to a lack of sufficient evidence.
Cornejo-Campoverde, Granado and Nunez are the first of the five defendants to reach the preliminary hearing stage. Jovan Pecina, age 20, has a three-day preliminary hearing set to begin Dec. 20, while 20-year-old Alan Alanis has a motion hearing Jan. 24 to determine whether he will be certified as an adult before a decision is made on a preliminary hearing. The other four defendants are already certified as adults. All five were juveniles when Avila’s body was found in a burned-out vehicle just southeast of Emporia in September 2017.
