The preliminary hearing for a man arrested in 2017 for a 2005 murder in National City has been moved to March 7 in Chula Vista Superior Court.
Anthony Raymond Rivers, 31, is charged with participating in the fatal stabbing of Luis Vazquez, 19, in the 200 block of Highland Avenue at 11:30 p.m. on April 9, 2005. He is also charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon upon two other people who were injured.
Meanwhile, the sentencing for Jorge Ibarra, 31, was moved last month to May 14. Ibarra pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting voluntary manslaughter, and two counts of felony assault.
Deputy District Attorney Robert Eacret said Ibarra faces up to six years in prison as part of a plea agreement. Ibarra fled to Mexico at the time, but was arrested in January 2017.
A third man, Jose Hernandez, 39, was arrested at the time and was sentenced in 2006 to 13 years in prison. Hernandez pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and admitted he committed the crime as a gang member.
Rivers was arrested Aug. 30, 2017, on charges of possession of methamphetamine and having three loaded guns by a drug user. Rivers was living in La Mesa. Those charges were added to the murder charge, but a judge recently ruled the murder must stand alone from the drug charges because it occurred years apart in 2005.
Rivers is also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. His initial arrest was on the drug and weapon charges and the murder was added later. A separate case of the drug and weapon charges will have to be filed in San Diego Superior Court.
Both Rivers and Ibarra remain in jail. Rivers has pleaded not guilty.
