Attorney's departure postpones trial in Noriega murder case
The trial of a Mayetta resident charged with first-degree murder has been delayed after the defense attorney's motion to withdraw from the case was granted on Friday in Jackson County District Court.
A five-day jury trial had been scheduled to begin on Monday, July 18 in district court for Wilson R. Noriega, 50, whose murder charge stems from the November 2015 stabbing death of Leann M. Sanchez, 49, at a residence reportedly owned by Noriega’s parents on the Prairie Band Potawatomi Reservation.
However, during Friday’s pre-trial motion hearing in district court, Judge Norbert Marek granted a motion filed on June 20 by defense attorney J. Richard Lake of Holton to allow Lake to withdraw as Noriega’s attorney. Lake stated in his motion to withdraw that “communication between counsel and client has been irretrievably breached.”
“I feel the same way,” Noriega told Marek in response to Lake’s motion.
Marek also appointed Topeka attorney Donald Hoffman to represent Noriega and tentatively scheduled a hearing for July 29, which Marek said was the next date that Hoffman would be in Holton for court activity. Until then, the July trial date on the murder charge is “pretty much a bust,” Marek added.
Friday’s hearing was held to hear motions on the case connected to the November 2015 incident, in which Noriega has been charged with first-degree murder, possession of methamphetamines and possession of drug paraphernalia, as well as two other criminal cases in which Noriega is facing felony charges.
The second case involved marijuana and paraphernalia possession charges related to a July 2015 incident. The third involved a charge of trafficking contraband into a correctional facility — namely, a crude, knife-like weapon known as a “shank” — as well as charges of criminal damage to property at the jail.
Single-day trials had been set for August on the other two cases, but Marek said the trials for all three cases had been taken “out of setting” due to Lake’s motion to withdraw. The court dates had originally been set in March after Noriega pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him.
