Judge affirms trial dates for man charged in armed robbery, sexual assault cases

Source: The Sun, Yuma, Ariz.存倉July 24--A judge has affirmed the trial dates for the Yuma man arrested outside his apartment earlier this year after a 3-1/2-hour standoff with police, with the first of the two of those trials scheduled to begin later this month.During a brief hearing in Yuma County Superior Court on Tuesday, prosecutor William Katz asked Superior Court Judge pro tem Stephen J. Rouff, who is presiding over the cases, to issue at least 100 summonses for each trial, stating it is difficult to get the necessary amount of jurors this time of year and having a larger potential jury pool would be extremely helpful.Jacson Williams, 37, who has three cases against him, has been charged with three counts of sexual assault per domestic violence, two counts of aggravated assault per domestic violence, one count of kidnapping per domestic violence in one case and one count of armed robbery in each of the other two cases.The first trial, for the two armed robbery charges, has been scheduled to begin on July 31, with the other trial for the sexual assault and other charges set to begin on Aug. 14. Williams is currently being held in the Yuma County jail on $500,000 bond.Katz explained to the court that the Yuma County Attorney's Office re-indicted Williams on the armed robbery charge which resulted in a second case with the identical charge being filed against him. However, his office had not dismissed the original case yet, but would file a motion to dismiss one of those cases before the trial starts.In another matter, Katz also informed the court that he had recently filed a request to have Williams fingerprinted and asked the court to make him submit to it either during an in-jail visit or in the courtroom before the upcoming trial got underway.Attorney Emily Hart, of the Yuma County Legal Defender's Office, who is now representing Williams, objected to the request, arguing that it was a week before the trial and that the prosecution has had ample time to make the request and should not ha自存倉e waited so long.Hart added that if the court were to grant the prosecution's request she would want to be present when her client is fingerprinted. The judge agreed, granting both her and the prosecution's requests. Katz also informed the judge there were as many as 14 motions that still needed to be heard before the trial.The standoff in which Williams was arrested began shortly after noon on Feb. 27th when Yuma police officers tried to question him at an apartment in the 2000 block of South 11th Avenue about a domestic violence incident. However, he refused to speak with police or come out of the apartment.Yuma police then cordoned off the immediate area and dispatched the Special Enforcement Team to the apartment. Adjacent apartments were temporarily evacuated as SET officers secured the exterior of the residence.Police urged Williams to leave the home, warning him they would send in a police dog who "will find you and will bite you" if he failed to come out. Attempts were also made to contact Williams via telephone.At about 3:43 p.m., Williams and another man, whose identity was not released by police, came out and were arrested. Williams was transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center for treatment of an unknown medical issue. The second man was transported to YPD and questioned by detectives to determine if he had any involvement with the standoff or domestic violence incident.During Williams' initial appearance in Yuma Justice Court, for which he was not present, prosecutor Mary White was asked for a basis for the charges against Williams, to which she replied that Williams was the victim's boyfriend and that he had attacked her in a "very, very violent manner," breaking at least one rib.White also told the court that after Williams attacked the victim, he allegedly coerced her to go with him to a vacant building where he sexually assaulted her.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Sun (Yuma, Ariz.) Visit The Sun (Yuma, Ariz.) at www.yumasun.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉新蒲崗