Hearings Postponed Due to COVID-19

Update: Court appearances in the Golden State Killer case are set to resume on June 29th, 2020.

The April 22nd, 2020 hearing was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The defense was set to argue their position that the alleged crimes committed outside of Sacramento County cannot be tried in a Sacramento County courtroom. This discussion will likely take place at a later date.

The court still has the May 12th, 2020 scheduled in their calendar system (this was the date that the preliminary trial was set to begin), but we have unconfirmed information that the preliminary hearings have been moved to July (Update: The next scheduled court date is confirmed to be June 29th, 2020. A new time frame for the preliminary hearings might be set on that date). Since the May 12th booking is listed in Department 09 instead of Department 61, it appears to be a residual date from the earlier schedule.

A large number of witnesses, due to their age or health status, are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. There may be further delays in the schedule due to the risks inherent in face-to-face hearings. Several cases around the country have proceeded through video conferencing, but it’s unknown if this technology will be used in the Golden State Killer case.

Last month, 421 Sacramento County inmates were released to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. DeAngelo was not among them. Social visitations and public access to the jail have been halted until at least April 30th.  No outbreaks of the virus have been reported at the Sacramento County Main Jail where DeAngelo is housed, but a deputy public defender tested positive three weeks ago after visiting with an inmate.