RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — The pretrial hearing in the Mercedes Carrera criminal case concerning multiple child sexual abuse charges against her and her husband — which was supposed to happen today at the Rancho Cucamonga courthouse in San Bernardino County, California — has been postponed once again, this time only for two weeks until February 19.
The proceedings have now crossed the mark of two years without a trial. Carrera and her husband Jason Whitney were arrested after a police raid of their Rancho Cucamonga home on February 1, 2019.
Carrera and Whitney have been in county jail without trial since then, first without bail and later, after they had liquidated their assets and had no source of income due to their incarceration, with bail set at $2 million for each.
A pretrial hearing to determine the jury selection process, and the date of the beginning of the actual trial, has already been postponed numerous times, most recently last month, when it was re-scheduled for today.
The new date of February 19 — like several previous postponements — appeared online in a document filed today.
The document shows the hearing took place today with District Attorney Laura Fragoso on the case, and a Conflict Panel attorney, Geoff Newman, standing for the accused.
Carrera’s court-appointed lawyer, Joshua Castro, was not present. Public Defender Castro has not given any press updates since the start of the pandemic, in spite of repeated attempts to reach him.
Carrera is being held at the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino, which has been, according to multiple reports, ravaged by COVID-19 cases. Inmates cannot be visited or receive phone calls. The only way to contact inmates is via paper letter, or by waiting for them to make a phone call.
For more of XBIZ’s coverage of the Mercedes Carrera case, click here.
