A judge said Wednesday that she would like the death penalty case against a 27-year-old man accused of killing a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper tried before the end of the year.
Victor Alejandro Godinez appeared in front of state District Judge Letty Lopez via video-conferencing for the pre-trial hearing in which Lopez said she would like to talk about the timeline for the trial at his next hearing in September.
Godinez is accused of shooting Trooper Moises Sanchez, 49, on April 6, 2019. Sanchez died Aug. 24, 2019, following a surgery in Houston.
The shooting allegedly happened following a car crash at the corner of North 10th Street and Freddy Gonzalez Drive.
Godinez was charged with capital murder of a peace officer and two counts of attempted capital murder of a peace officer for allegedly shooting at two Edinburg police officers who were trying to apprehend him following the shooting. Those officers were not injured.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
During the Wednesday hearing, Lopez told attorneys that she would like the trial to occur over the period of one month, with two weeks for jury selection and another two for the trial.
While the defense and prosecution didn’t address a timeline for the trial, they did tell Lopez that they believed jury selection itself would take a month.
In October 2020, the judge indicated that at least 800 people would have to be summoned for jury duty in the case.
As for the timeline concerns from the attorneys about jury selection, Lopez said she would like two weeks and indicated that the parties would work late.
Godinez was indicted Sept. 19, 2019 following Sanchez’s death, and nearly one year later, on Sept. 17, 2020, prosecutors announced that they would seek the death penalty if Godinez is convicted of capital murder of a peace officer.
However, by fall 2020, the coronavirus pandemic was in full swing and court hearings were limited to video conferencing.
The uncertainty of the pandemic has been a theme for Godinez’s case as it has progressed over the last two years and because of that uncertainty, a trial date has yet to be set.
Previously, Lopez said she thought September would be a possibility for a trial, but that has changed because court staff will be moving from the old courthouse into the new courthouse during that time frame.
As for Godinez, he has said during court hearings that he understood the pandemic’s impact on his case.
He remains jailed in the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on a total of $3 million in bonds.
