Quick Take
Adrian Gonzalez’s trial has been delayed into September as new counsel is set to be appointed, a Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge announced Monday. Jury selection in the case, which began last week, will have to start over from scratch. The trial will decide whether Gonzalez, who was convicted of the 2015 rape and murder of Madyson “Maddy” Middleton, will be released from state custody when he ages out of California’s juvenile justice system on his 25th birthday in October.
A jury trial that will decide whether Adrian Gonzalez will be released from state custody was continued Monday morning, with Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Denine Guy citing “unforeseen circumstances.”
Guy exited the courtroom into the crowd of jurors lining the hallway to dismiss them and let them know their service was complete. She added that the selection process will have to “start over.” Gonzalez’s attorney had argued unsuccessfully that it would be difficult to find jurors who could be objective about the high-profile case and that it should be moved out of Santa Cruz County.
Santa Cruz County Chief Deputy Attorney and prosecutor Tara Geoge told Lookout that the case would be back in court on Wednesday, Sept. 11, at 1:30 p.m., for the appointment of new counsel.
Defense attorney and Chief Deputy Public Defender Athena Reis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gonzalez, now 24, was convicted in 2021 of raping and murdering 8-year-old Madyson “Maddy” Middleton in 2015, when he was 15. He was tried as a juvenile after a years-long battle over a California law that prohibited the prosecution of offenders under the age of 16 as an adult.
Gonzalez is now seeking release before he ages out of the state’s juvenile justice system on his 25th birthday in October.
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