State prosecutors are requesting the man accused of killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts go on trial in July.
Assistant Attorney General Scott D. Brown proposed Thursday morning that the trial begin July 29, according to court records. The request comes two days after attorneys for Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the man charged with first-degree murder, asked the court to push back the previously scheduled April trial date.
The 24-year-old Bahena Rivera’s lawyers, Chad and Jennifer Frese, filed an application Tuesday for an extension to complete discovery, along with pretrial motions and designate notices of defense, after they received an investigative file from prosecutors, court records show.
The original deadline to complete discovery was Tuesday, but such delays in trial proceedings are not uncommon.
Since Bahena Rivera was arraigned in September, his attorneys said they have received a plethora of information from the prosecution. Much of it came in the last 45 days. Brown’s request Thursday agreed there is an abundance of information for both sides to parse through, calling the amount of material provided in discovery “voluminous.”
Brown’s request said the state estimates the trial will take six to eight days. A judge will decide whether to grant the extension and then set a new trial date.
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SOURCE: Des Moines Register, by Tyler J Davis
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