Judge sets trial date for man accused of murdering Vanessa Marcotte
WORCESTER — A judge Thursday set trial for December in the case of the man accused of murdering Vanessa Marcotte as she jogged in Princeton in 2016.
Worcester Superior Court Judge Janet Kenton-Walker, after conferring with lawyers at a status hearing Thursday morning, set Dec. 8 as the date for jury empanelment and Dec. 12 for the start of evidence.
The date is not binding — it’s not unusual for court cases to be delayed — though Kenton-Walker noted before asking lawyers for their input that she wanted to pick a realistic date.
Thursday’s hearing was scheduled after a single justice of the state’s highest court declined a request for an interlocutory appeal that the defendant, Angelo Colon-Ortiz, filed on a ruling Kenton-Walker issued in January.
Kenton-Walker in January declined to throw out DNA evidence prosecutors said links Colon-Ortiz to the murder, ruling that errors in Spanish translation of a DNA consent form he was given did not rise to the level of invalidating his consent.
Interlocutory appeals — in which a higher court takes up an appeal before a trial — are rarely granted and court records show a single Supreme Judicial Court justice issued a two-paragraph denial of the motion in late April.
The denial paves the way for prosecutors to use the DNA evidence against Colon-Ortiz at trial. It does not prohibit Colon-Ortiz from raising the translation issue with a higher court again should he be convicted and appeal.
Marcotte, a popular Google employee killed while out for a run in her hometown in August 2016, fought her attacker, prosecutors have said, and his DNA was allegedly found under her fingernails.
That DNA matches a sample police obtained from Colon-Ortiz, say authorities, who also have other evidence including a gas station receipt they argue ties him to the crime.
Colon-Ortiz last summer requested that the DNA evidence be thrown out, arguing a Spanish version of a DNA consent form he signed was poorly translated and that a state trooper who explained the man his rights was not fluent enough in the language.
While she sharply criticized the state police form — deeming there was “no excuse” for a litany of errors it contained — Kenton-Walker determined that, given the totality of evidence about the interaction, Colon-Ortiz was aware of what he was doing when he signed the consent form and provided his sample.
Contact Brad Petrishen at brad.petrishen@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BPetrishenTG
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Judge sets trial date for Angelo Colon Ortiz, man accused of murdering Vanessa Marcotte
