Marquez’s hearing continued to March 14 in fatal hit-and-run case

Defense to call final witness; both sides need time for argument

BY CORINNE WESTEMAN CWESTEMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

e preliminary hearing for Ruben Marquez, the alleged driver in the fatal hit-and-run outside a Golden bar, will require a third day of proceedings. It will resume 8:30 a.m. March 14 at the Je erson County Courthouse.

Marquez, 29, has been charged with rst-degree murder, vehicular homicide and assault for allegedly driving a truck into a crowd of people outside e Rock Rest Lodge on Oct. 9.

Adrian Ponce, 26, was killed in the incident, and at least four others were injured, including Rock Rest employees.

Marquez, who is facing 17 total charges, is being held at the Je erson County Jail without bond. His preliminary hearing started Feb. 3 and resumed March 2, where he appeared in custody.

A preliminary hearing, which is formatted like a small-scale trial, determines whether there is su cient evidence for the case to proceed through the judicial system.

Judge Lindsay VanGilder had hoped to conclude the hearing March 2, but the defense had a nal witness to call who wasn’t available that day. VanGilder also wanted to ensure both sides had time for arguments after the defense calls its nal witness, and allow herself time to review video recordings entered into evidence on March 2.

Because of the seriousness of the allegations and the pause in proceedings, the Transcript will wait to publish a full account of the hearing at its conclusion.

On March 2, proceedings resumed with the defense cross-examining the prosecution’s nal witness, the lead investigator in the case. He described multiple interviews he and other investigators conducted with witnesses both at the Rock Rest immediately after the incident and in the weeks following.

In their cross-examination with the lead investigator and in questioning their own witnesses later, Marquez’s defense attorneys stressed how details of the incident con icted. Some witnesses’ statements contradict each other, and some witnesses give di ering details at the scene than they did in later interviews. e defense speci cally stressed o cers’ interviews with Ernesto Avila, the truck’s owner and the codefendant in the case.

Avila, who’s been charged with one felony count of accessory to a crime, pleaded not guilty last month.

He’s scheduled for a pretrial conference March 6, and his defense attorney is attempting to sever the case from Marquez’s and ask for a separate trial.