The attorney for murder defendant Melissa Huckaby wants the body of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu exhumed for a second autopsy to help defend the Sunday school teacher against rape charges, court records show.The defense made the motion Thursday, the same day thousands of people paid their respects at a memorial service for the girl in Tracy. Sandra was laid to rest at the Tracy Mausoleum during a private funeral Wednesday.
A San Joaquin County Superior Court judge declined to rule on the motion by Samuel Behar, a deputy public defender.
Sandra was last seen near her home at the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park in Tracy on March 27. Her body was found in a suitcase April 6 in an irrigation pond 2 miles from the mobile home park.
Huckaby, 28, mother of one of Sandra's playmates in the mobile home park and a Sunday school teacher at a nearby church, was arrested April 10 and charged with murder, rape and kidnapping. She could be sentenced to death if convicted.
The San Joaquin County coroner conducted an autopsy on Sandra but has not released the cause of death pending the results of toxicology tests.
In his motion, Behar wrote that a second autopsy, which would be conducted by Dr. Terri Haddix, a forensic pathologist hired by the defense, was "extremely crucial and material to Ms. Huckaby's defense."
The defense team "should be allowed to examine Ms. Cantu's body to discern alternative explanation for the assigned coroner's observation of alleged genital trauma, so that Ms. Huckaby can defend herself against those allegations," Behar wrote.
Behar added that his request was urgent because Sandra's body "will deteriorate as time goes by, and ... without immediate intervention to have the body preserved in the closest possible state to when the assigned coroner examined the body, an examination by Dr. Haddix of Ms. Cantu's body would have progressively diminishing value."
Behar wants the court to order officials at Fry Memorial Chapel in Tracy to remove Sandra's body from its crypt and preserve it until sheriff's deputies take possession of it.
"Ms. Cantu's body is of such material evidence and that, without immediate intervention by this court, (Huckaby's) defense will be prejudiced," Behar wrote. "If the defense pathologist is not permitted to examine the body, the defense will be forever denied the opportunity to refute the people's case."
Prosecutors have not filed a response pending a hearing next week. They declined to comment today.
Sandra's aunt, Angie Chavez, also declined to comment, citing advice from the family's attorney. (source)
No comments:
Post a Comment