Defense attorney Phil Zalewski requested the delay in hearings scheduled in November concerning the admissibility of DNA evidence in the case because an expert defense witness had to have surgery.
Superior Court Judge William Froeberg granted the delay and rescheduled the DNA hearings for December 6. The trial is scheduled to begin January 18, 2005.
Avila, a 30-year-old factory worker from Lake Elsinore, is accused of kidnapping 5-year-old Samantha Runnion on July 15, 2002 as she and a friend were playing in an alley behind her Stanton, California home. Avila was arrested four days after Samantha's body was found.
In January 2001, Avila was found not guilty by a Riverside County Superior Court of molesting the 9-year-old daughter of a former girlfriend and the girl's cousin.
Trial Delayed Many Times
In papers filed previously with the court, prosecutors claim the have show and tire prints, cat hairs, and DNA evidence that link Avila to the kidnapping of Samantha. The defense is questioning the admissibility of the DNA evidence.An estimated two weeks of hearings are scheduled for the defense to challenge the validity of two DNA tests conducted by out-of-state labs, according to press reports. The DNA in the case has to be retested in September because a step was left out of the original test, but the retesting did not change the results, authorities said.
The hearings have been delayed several times. The original trial date was set for January 2004, and delayed until April 2004. It was then moved to July, and then later to November, and now has been changed to January 2005.
