BEDFORD COUNTY, Va. – The jury trial for one of the men charged in a local capital murder case is being delayed another year.
Josue Coreas-Ventura, a suspected MS-13 gang member, was arrested back in 2017 in connection to the brutal stabbing death of Raymond Wood.
The 24-year-old was scheduled to appear in a Bedford courtroom on April 29th, but his attorneys asked for more time to prepare due to the pandemic.
The prosecutor tells 10 News one reason he objected is that they could lose key witnesses.
“We have a number of witnesses that are actually drawn from several different states. When you’re dealing with that many witnesses and this amount of passage of time, we’re very concerned that we might lose access to some of those witnesses,” said Wes Nance, Bedford County commonwealth attorney.
Coreas-Ventura is now scheduled to go before a jury in February 2022.