A Valencia man accused of strangling his boyfriend in 2017 made a brief court appearance Tuesday, only to have his case put off until May.
Christian Alexander Ortiz, 22, charged with murder in the death of Brayan Rodriguez, appeared Tuesday at San Fernando Superior Court for a pretrial hearing.
He appeared last month and in January for similar pretrial hearings. In each court visit, Ortiz was told to come to court at a later date.
In October, following a daylong preliminary hearing, a judge ruled that Ortiz should stand trial for murder.
Prior to that decision being made, Ortiz saw his preliminary hearing postponed four times.
Over the course of the past year, defense lawyers have requested more time to prepare their case.
Ortiz remains in custody in the Twin Towers Correctional Facility with bail set at $2 million.
He was arrested on suspicion of murder by deputies of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station about 3 a.m. on Sept. 25, 2017.
Rodriguez’s body was found inside a closet in a house on the 23600 block of Via Valer, near Valencia Glen Park, sometime before 4 p.m. on Sept. 24, 2017.
Rodriguez, 20, identified by prosecutors as the accused man’s boyfriend, was reported missing Sept. 22, 2017, prompting several searches to find him throughout that weekend.
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