On Friday, December 3, a defense attorney said he would file a motion to dismiss charges against the couple accused of arson and manslaughter, after authorities said it was the result of an unsuccessful 2020 gender revealing photo shoot in San Bernardino County the El Dorado fire broke out in San Bernardino County. …
Michael Skafiddi’s petition, made at the San Bernardino Justice Center, will be heard on 4 February.
The petition is often made in serious crime cases and is based on the judge’s conviction that there is insufficient evidence to charge anyone with the alleged crimes.
“They are usually denied, but sometimes granted,” Lori Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said Friday.
Refugio Jimenez and Angelina Jimenez were not required to attend Friday’s hearings, and neither did they. They are ordered to appear on 4 February. They are not in custody.
The grand jury indicted them on one count of manslaughter, three counts of irresponsible fire causing serious bodily harm, four counts of irresponsible arson of residential buildings, and 22 counts of wrongful arson. the property of another. They pleaded not guilty and are not in custody.
“This is a tragic event and Mr. and Mrs. Jimenez are heartbroken over the loss of life and the destruction of our community,” Skafiddi said after the hearing.
He refused to disclose personal information about the couple, including their professions and whether the child born after the fire was a boy or girl.
The fire began on September 5, 2020 at El Dorado Ranch Park in Ucaipa, when sparks from a pyrotechnic device used to generate colored smoke set fire to a dry brush on an unseasonably warm day, San Bernardino’s Cal Fire division said.
Charles Morton, 39, chief of the US Forest Service brigade, died on September 17 in a fire in the San Gorgonio Desert when flames broke out over him. The fire burned 22,680 acres, destroyed five houses and damaged four more.
Residents of Mountain Home Village, Forest Falls, Angelus Oaks, Seven Oaks and Barton Flats have been evacuated. A fire also started in Cherry Valley in Riverside County.