El Dorado County DA opposes delay in Garrido trial
By Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee
The prosecutor in the Jaycee Lee Dugard kidnap case is asking a judge to deny a delay in the trial of Phillip Garrido, saying the suspect “has manipulated the legal system and escaped justice for too long.”
El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson said in court papers that there is no valid reason to delay the Feb. 28 jury trial set to determine whether Garrido is mentally competent to stand trial on charges that he kidnapped Dugard in 1991 when she was 11 and sexually assaulted her repeatedly.
Garrido’s public defender, Susan Gellman, filed papers last week stating that she still has an enormous amount of evidence to review and still may ask for a change of venue in the case.