A preliminary hearing to decide whether or not a man should stand trial for allegedly stabbing his mother to death inside their Saugus home has been put off until next month.
Jesse Lucatero, 24, appeared in San Fernando Superior Court Tuesday to set a date for a preliminary hearing, but no date for the hearing was set.
Instead, Lucatero was ordered to appear back in court on Oct. 11 to set a date then for a preliminary hearing, Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.
During that hearing, prosecutors will present evidence in the case, and the defense can respond, after which the judge will decide if the case should go to trial.
Lucatero faces one count of murder with the allegation he used a knife during the crime of killing his mother 56-year-old Maria Acevedo.
He was arrested on Oct. 3, 2016, four hours after the stabbing, initially as a person of interest and then as the man suspected of murdering his mother inside the family home on the 19500 block of Castille Lane, prosecutors said.
Acevedo’s body was discovered by the victim’s husband, who is the defendant’s father, prosecutors noted in a news release issued shortly after the arrest.
If convicted as charged, Lucatero faces a possible maximum sentence of 26 years to life in state prison. The requested bail is more than $2 million.
Deputy District Attorney Pam Revel is the assigned prosecutor.
661-287-5527
on Twitter @jamesarthurholt
