Prosecutors want more time to test DNA in teenager's slaying cold case
A judge granted the prosecution's request for more time in the murder case against Arsenio Leyva, who was extradited from Mexico.
Prosecutors want more time to test DNA in teenager's slaying cold case A judge granted the prosecution's request for more time in the murder case against Arsenio Leyva, who was extradited from Mexico. Check out this story on thecalifornian.com: https://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/2018/07/03/christy-pina-cold-case-murder-trial-delayed-more-dna-testing/755839002/
Cristian Ponce, Salinas Californian Published 11:42 a.m. PT July 3, 2018 | Updated 5:16 p.m. PT July 3, 2018
In early February, 1990, fieldworkers found the body of Christy Pina, 14, in an artichoke field outside Castroville. Wochit
Arsenio Leyva(Photo: Contributed photo)Buy Photo
Prosecutors on Tuesday asked a judge for more time to re-run DNA tests before holding a preliminary hearing in the murder and torture case against a man recently extradited from Mexico after decades on the run.
Prosecutors are planning to conduct additional DNA evidence, said Christopher Van Meir, an assistant district attorney. He did not specify the items of evidence that might be retested, but noted that the science of DNA testing was not as advanced in the early 1990s, when the crime occurred and the initial investigation was conducted.
Arsenio Leyva is the man accused of the 1990 Castroville rape and murder of 14-year-old Christy Sue Piña.
Leyva is accused of murdering the teen before dumping her nude body in a Castroville artichoke field.
DNA played a central role in the case since the early years of the investigation, but the technology was still in its "infancy," Monterey County Sheriff-Coroner Steve Bernal has said. He said the first DNA test yielded a one-in-300 chance that someone else of Hispanic descent could be the suspect — and that was too much doubt, he said, to prosecute.
A second DNA test in 1996 made a much stronger link, with only a one in 3 billion chance any other person of Hispanic descent was Christy's attacker. By that time, Leyva was gone.
Detectives followed up on leads but nothing came of the search until 2007 when the FBI got a tip that Leyva was in Mexico, Bernal said.
Bernal said Mexican authorities caught up with Leyva on Oct. 1, 2014. He finally lost his three-and-a-half-year fight against extradition and arrived May 3 in the U.S.
Leyva was in hiding for years while he was rumored to be in Mexico.
John Piña, Christy's father, has been outspoken in seeking to bring justice for his daughter for many years.
John Pina (right), of Greenfield, shakes the hand of Monterey County Sheriff Steve Bernal Monday after the announcement that his daughter's alleged killer was in jail. (Photo: Joe Szydlowski)
Piña became a persistent voice against violence in the community. He was voted onto the board of the local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children and has spoken at prisons and juvenile halls.
His advocacy for families of murder victims has taken him all the way to the national stage in recent years, as he has stood alongside President Donald Trump and at events for organizations such as The Remembrance Project, "a voice for victims killed by illegal aliens."
Piña again stood alongside President Donald Trump in June as he addressed immigration and border security.
Monterey County Superior Court Judge Carrie Panetta granted the prosecution's request and rescheduled a hearing for Sept. 11.
This is the last photo taken of Christy Pina before she was stabbed and strangled in February 1990. (Photo: COURTESY OF PINA FAMILY)
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