Celeb sightings at 2008 DNC
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2008 Venice Film Festival
Bond raised in homicide case
Daniel Estrada-Lopez, accused of killing a Hamilton woman, is facing a life sentence.
Friday, June 13, 2008
HAMILTON — Gloria Marie Applegate's family sat quietly in the front row for the arraignment of the man accused of killing the Hamilton woman and leaving her nude in an alley.
"He looks bigger in the paper," Butch Applegate, the victim's uncle, said Thursday, June 12, referring to defendant Daniel Estrada-Lopez.
Extras
Lopez, 32, a native of Mexico,
was assisted by an interpreter
during the short hearing. Butler County Common Pleas Judge Patricia
Oney raised his bond from $1 million — set last week at his court appearance in Hamilton Municipal Court — to $1.5 million. The judge also ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents not to move Estrada-Lopez from the Butler County Jail.
"We were worried about that — that ICE would just come and get him and take him back before a trial," said Alice Applegate, the victim's aunt.
The suspected illegal immigrant was indicted Wednesday by a Butler County grand jury
on a single count of aggravated murder with a gun specification. He could receive life in prison if convicted.
Applegate's body was found in an alley behind South 11th Street on early June 1, hours after she was released from police custody after an arrest for disorderly conduct and open container. She had been shot in the head.
A trial date of Sept. 30 was set by the judge. Estrada-Lopez is scheduled to be back in court July 14 for a hearing on several motions to be filed by the prosecution and defense attorney David Brewer.
Butler County Prosecutor
Robin Piper said investigators believe Estrada-Lopez forced himself on Applegate and that resulted in her being shot. Butler County Coroner Dr. Richard Burkhardt said autopsy results indicate there is evidence Applegate was sexually assaulted.
