At about 2 and a half minutes, Tuesday’s hearing in the Pedro Bravo case might have been its shortest yet.
After lawyers confirmed that taking depositions is going well, Judge Ysleta McDonald set another hearing for April 22. The trial of Bravo, the 20-year-old former Santa Fe College student accused of killing UF freshman Christian Aguilar in 2012, is due to start Aug. 4. Pretrial hearings are set for July 16.
Those are the days Christian’s dad, Carlos Aguilar, is focusing on.
“It’s a relief to know the date,” he said. “Hopefully, by the end of August, everyone will know the truth, and everybody will be able to say justice was served.”
But Tuesday’s hearing just served as a check-in on the attorneys’ progress.
In January, defense lawyer Michael Ruppert told the judge that his witnesses numbered more than 100. State Attorney Brian Kramer previously explained the need to travel to collect some of his depositions, and Tuesday he said he has set up dates to do so.
With these developments and the announcement of a trial schedule, Aguilar said he can see “the light at the end of the tunnel.”
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 2/19/2014 under the headline "Murder trial proceedings moving along"]
Pedro Bravo walks in for a case management hearing at the Alachua County Courthouse on Tuesday. Another case management hearing was scheduled for April 22.
