Sniffling with his head down, Pete Joseph Valdez III only looked
up once, for a few seconds, before the judge scheduled his
attempted murder trial.
Sniffling with his head down, Pete Joseph Valdez III only looked up once, for a few seconds, before the judge scheduled his attempted murder trial.
Valdez, 29, stands accused of trying to shoot a Gilroy police officer more than a year ago in an apparent “suicice-by-cop” attempt. He will stand trial for that and three other felonies May 4 at the Santa Clara County Superior Courthouse in San Martin.
If convicted, Valdez, who has been denied bail, would spend the rest of his life in prison because he has 10 prior convictions, including three felony convictions for a strong-arm robbery.
Superior Court Judge Edward Lee, who recently transferred down from San Jose, will preside over the summer trial. He was still up north during Valdez’s preliminary examination last December, when the defendant spent three hours shaking and crying quietly as the officer he allegedly tried to kill testified. While more subdued Monday, the teary-eyed inmate stood alone before Lee and his father, former 16-year Gilroy City Councilman Pete Valdez Jr., who was the only person seated in the gallery Monday.
“Are you OK?” Lee asked Valdez, who stared at the ground and responded with head bobs and stilted mumblings.
“You just sort of nodded and made a few noises,” Lee said. “I want to make sure you’re OK.”
Valdez said jail authorities were treating him “good” after Lee summoned Deputy District Attorney Patricia Henley and Valdez’s attorney, Berndt Ingo Brauer, to the bench. Lee also scheduled a case update for April 9 to check in with both sides before the trial, which he predicted would last about two weeks.
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