Several court cases involving violent felony charges in the Santa Clarita Valley were scheduled for future court dates, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
A man accused of assaulting his wife and child, a man accused of murdering a friend he met in rehab and a man accused of multiple sexual assaults all had their cases continued.
David Charles
David Charles, 58, faces two counts of attempted murder and one count each of injuring a spouse, mayhem, child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to produce great bodily injury or death, assault with a deadly weapon — a car — and assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury.
Charles was arrested on Sept. 9, 2019, and was initially booked on an attempted murder charge and held in lieu of $2.1 million bail after an alleged domestic violence incident led to a pursuit and wrong-way freeway crash.
Charles is suspected of taking his teenage child and fleeing from deputies, then going onto Highway 14, heading the wrong direction. The suspect then reportedly crashed his vehicle into another motorist and the pursuit came to an end.
The teenager was uninjured, but Charles was transported to the hospital. Less than a week later he was discharged from the hospital and booked.
Charles is due back in court Nov. 30 to set a date for his preliminary hearing. During a preliminary hearing, the evidence is presented and a judge can then decide if the case should go to trial.
He was released from custody after making bail last December, according to Sheriff’s Department records.
David Figueroa
On July 30, 2018, detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau began investigating the stabbing death of 29-year-old Brent Hariston, of Canyon Country.
According to investigators, Figueroa is suspected of agreeing to meet Hariston on the 27500 block of Dewdrop Avenue with the intention of doing some work together. The two, according to investigators, befriended one another in rehab. The men reportedly began to argue, which is when detectives believe Figueroa stabbed Hariston, according to the late Homicide Detective John Corina.
Figueroa is due back in court Dec. 11 for a pretrial hearing. He’s yet to be formally arraigned on the murder charge, pending his preliminary hearing.
Nicolas Morales
A Canyon Country man accused of raping more than a half-dozen women while allegedly posing as a rideshare driver had another court date set Monday.
Morales is charged with: nine counts of forcible oral copulation; six counts of rape; five counts of sodomy by use of force; four counts of sexual penetration by foreign object; and one count each of assault with intent to commit a felony, attempted sodomy by use of force and attempted kidnapping to commit another crime.
If convicted as charged, he faces a maximum possible sentence of 300 years to life in state prison and lifetime sex offender registration.
He’s due back in court in January.
