STOCKTON (KRON) -- There's another delay in the planned arraignment of Melissa Huckaby on charges she murdered eight-year old Sandra Cantu.
KRON 4's Dan Kerman who was inside the courtroom for the arraignment says Huckaby entered at exactly 1:00 p.m. wearing a jail-issued red jumpsuit. She was shackled at both the waist and the ankles but appeared calm throughout the eight minute hearing.
Public Defender Sam Behar asked for the arraignment to be held over for two to three weeks. He said he needed time to go over about 1,000 pages of discovery documents and to examine the new charges against his client.
Judge Linda Lofthus agreed and set the arraignment for June 12 at 1pm. Lofthus asked deputy district attorney Thomas Testa if he knew how he would proceed. Testa said he will not be ready to make a decision until after a plea is entered. The district attorneys office can either proceed with a preliminary hearing or bring the case to the grand jury.
That's when Huckaby is expected to enter a plea on charges she kidnapped, raped, and murdered Sandra Cantu. She's also now charged with poisoning a seven-year old girl and an adult man.
Former prosecutor and legal analyst Steve Clark says capital charges now seem more likely against Huckaby.
"When you look at this pattern of behavior that the D.A. has alleged, new allegations of poisoning and child endangerment, when you couple that with what happened to Sandra, I think that makes it much more likely that the D.A. will seek the death penalty," Clark said outside the courtroom. "They haven't made that decision yet. I think they sent the overture to the defense to see how the defense is going to respond in terms of how they plead at the next hearing."
The legal analyst says the new allegations will make it harder for the defense to argue for mitigating circumstances.
"You're taking someone who committed a horrible act but it appears that it's more than just someone who snapped," Clark added. "It appears to be someone who is preying on children, who is a very depraved individual, if these allegations are true. That makes it a very different case. It makes this a much more dangerous individual. I think that evaluation is something the prosecutor is looking at in deciding whether to make this a death case. They haven 't made that decision yet but these new charges certainly make this much more of a possibility."
Huckaby’s father, aunt and grandmother were once again in court. Also in court Sandra Cantu’s aunt and uncle and her grandfather. None of the family members showed much emotion during the hearing.
Huckaby remains jailed without bond on the charges that she kidnapped and killed Sandra Cantu from the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park. Huckaby is now also charged with child endangerment of an unnamed 7 year child and furnishing that child with a harmful substance back in January. She is also charged with furnishing an adult by the name of Daniel Plowman with a harmful substance just weeks before Sandra Cantu’s murder.
Clark says it seems more and more unlikely that the eventual trial will take place in San Joaquin County.
"I think that because of the amount of emotion and the searches that went on and all of those things that people in this county were so invested in, I think that would make it very difficult for her to receive a fair trial here. So I think clearly this will be a change of venue case after we get past the preliminary hearing."
Stay tuned to KRON 4 and KRON4.com for comprehensive coverage of the Sandra Cantu murder trial. We want to know what you think. Please leave a comment below or click on the Facebook or Twitter icons to your right. All comments are held for moderation so please don't refresh your page or re-submit your entry.
(Copyright 2009, KRON 4, All rights reserved.)