RICHMOND, Va. -- A judge in Richmond has postponed the federal trial of a man who Richmond police had accused of plotting a mass shooting.
Jury selection in the case against Julio Cesar Alvarado-Dubon was set to begin Oct. 5 but in a surprise hearing Wednesday in U.S. District Court, Judge Hannah Lauck delayed the trial, and set a new court date for Oct. 31.
At that hearing, the judge is scheduled to rule on a motion filed by the defense to suppress evidence gathered by RPD during a search of Alvarado-Dubon’s home.
In July, RPD Chief Gerald Smith and Mayor Levar Stoney announced that, based on a tip, Alvarado-Dubon and another man, Rolman Balcarcel-Bavagas, both Guatemalan citizens, had been arrested, accused of plotting to perpetrate a mass shooting on the Fourth of July. Smith later identified the target as Dogwood Dell.
But neither man has ever faced charges related to a shooting plot. And on Aug. 3, when questioned by Richmond Judge David Hicks, a city prosecutor said they had no evidence of a planned attack at any specific location.
Hicks then dismissed state gun possession charges, and federal prosecutors took over the cases.
Alvarado-Dubon is charged with one count of possession of a firearm by someone in the country unlawfully. He has pleaded not guilty.
Attorney Jose Aponte alleges the Richmond police officers who found guns inside his client’s Columbia Street home on July 1st never not get consent from Alvarado-Dubon to search the house, and did not obtain a search warrant until four days after the fact.
The motion says the search was therefore unconstitutional, and the evidence should not be allowed at trial.
Prosecutors have not yet filed a response. If the judge sides with the defense's motion, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will have to decide whether to move forward with the case.
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