Attorneys ready for retrial in Cari Anderson case
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The man accused of the brutal attack on Cari Anderson is set for retrial next month after a jury hung on four of five charges at his first trial.
Prosecutor Ken Russell and Deputy Public Defender Sebastien Bauge told a judge Wednesday they’re ready for the retrial of Michael Allen Fontes, who’s charged with attempted murder, aggravated mayhem, kidnapping to commit robbery and rape.
Russell said the trial is expected to last about two-and-a-half weeks.
The attorneys and Fontes return June 3 to see if a courtroom is available.
In a trial that ended in September, jurors acquitted Fontes of sodomy but couldn’t reach verdicts on the other counts.
Fontes, 50, is accused of attacking Anderson after she left a bar on Nov. 23, 1997, and leaving her for dead behind Golden Empire Transit’s maintenance yard off Golden State Highway and F Street. A GET employee found Anderson naked and unconscious hours later. There was extensive bruising to her face and body, and her throat had been slit.
Anderson survived but suffered permanent injuries. She died in late 2021.
In 2019, with advances in technology, investigators took the suspect’s DNA profile and uploaded it to a genealogy database. Further investigation showed Fontes’ DNA matched the profile, according to police.
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