The long delayed murder trial for a Cuban national accused of killing his former girlfriend in National City in 2005 was set Monday for June 19.
Victor Hugo Sanchez, 52, was arrested in March, 2013, and is accused of strangling Agapita Gonzalez, 36, on Oct. 23, 2005. He was arrested in Mexico and extradited here.
He appeared Monday before Chula Vista Judge Theodore Weathers, who set the trial date.
The trial has been delayed because the defense wants to talk to witnesses in Sanchez’s family in Cuba. The deteriorating relationship between the U.S. and Cuba have contributed to the trial delay, said Deputy District Attorney Harrison Kennedy on Monday.
Employees at the U.S. Embassy in Havana reported headaches, hearing loss, and dizziness that was believed to be a deliberate attack of some type. People at two hotels in Cuba also complained of the same symptoms and currently the State Department recommends people to reconsider traveling there.
The staff at the U.S. Embassy is reduced considerably, and Sanchez’s defense team has had difficulties in trying to contact witnesses whom they may want to testify in Sanchez’s trial.
Mexican federal police detained Sanchez in March, 2013 while he was trying to board a bus in Merida, Mexico as he did not have proper visitor documents. Mexican officials became aware there was a warrant for his arrest in the 2005 murder.
Before his arrest, Sanchez had visited the Cuban Embassy in Yucatan, Mexico to visit his father and sister who lived there, according to defense documents.
Sanchez has pleaded not guilty and remains in jail without bail.
