Story Published:
Nov 27, 2009 at 4:55 PM PDT
Story Updated:
Nov 27, 2009 at 4:55 PM PDT
LYNWOOD — An attorney for former Firebaugh High School Principal Jonas Silverio, asked to be relieved last week as Silverio’s counsel on the case.
Harold Greenberg’s request was granted and Silverio is due back in court Dec. 7 with Tracy Blackburn as his defense attorney, according to the public defender’s office.
Ordered to stand trial by Compton Superior Court Judge Ricardo Ocampo after a six-hour preliminary hearing on Oct. 20, Silverio — facing 18 counts of committing lewd acts on children — was scheduled for his second arraignment on Nov. 3. But the hearing was put over to Nov. 23 due to “finances,” said Greenberg on Nov. 3 as he was walking out of Ocampo’s courtroom.
In a brief interview, Greenberg cited his attorney-client privilege for not being able to disclose more details about his motion to be relieved from the case.
Asked if he could comment on whether or not Silverio’s request for a public defender will prolong the trial date even further, Greenberg said, “It’s possible. “It’s really up to the judge.”
Detective Marvin Jaramilla of the Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Unit said there was nothing new to report from his side of the case, only that he had been advised that Silverio was granted a public defender this week.
Four victims testified in the Oct. 20 preliminary hearing. The district attorney’s office identified four victims in the case but were allowed to bring on a fifth witness to testify. The incident involving the fifth witness occurred back in 1995 and thus the statute of limitations law prevented the prosecution from including her in their charges against Silverio. She was at the time 16 years old.
Silverio’s arraignment date was put over to Dec. 7 at 8:30 a.m. in Dept. D of Compton Superior Court.
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