A status conference for the accused killer of a 10-year-old California girl was moved to mid-April to give his attorney time to receive and review new documents.
Jesus Everardo Rodriguez was 17 when Liliana Jimenez was fatally shot and her brother and father wounded in Arvin on July 17, 2021.
Rodriguez’s attorney, Keenan Perkins, on Monday requested the postponement, which Judge Wendy Avila granted over the prosecution’s objection. Avila noted the court is going through “quite a bit of material” in files provided by probation and Department of Human Services officials to determine what can be shared with the defense, and found good cause to move the status conference.
Now 19, Rodriguez will eventually undergo a hearing to determine if his case stays in juvenile court or is transferred to adult court, where he would face a life term in prison if convicted of murder. A conviction as a juvenile would result in him being released by the time he turns 25.
The Jimenez family had just arrived home when a vehicle pulled alongside and shots were fired into the family’s vehicle. Liliana’s father may have been targeted because he wore a hat sometimes worn by Arvina gang members, according to police documents. The father has denied belonging to a gang.
Rodriguez has multiple tattoos linking him to the Varrio Chico Lamont gang, rivals of the Arvina gang.
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