Day 1 of Pre-Trial hearing for Mario Chacon Jr vs The State of Texas

ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) - Mario Chacon had his first pre-trial hearing on September 14th.

Chacon’s attorney said that they filed several motions to the court.

Those motions include claims of a lack of evidence, a lack of an autopsy report, and even a motion for the case to be taken to a jury trial.

If the case does go to trial, that date is tentatively set for December 4th later this year.

But Chacon’s attorney says there is still much to be determined.

“There’s a lot of new information that’s out there. Ninety days from now there can be new developments on a case like this” said Steve Herschberger, Chacon’s attorney

Another concern that Herschberger has is how much attention this case has received since May.

Madeline Pantoja’s story has been broadcast all over the country, which causes concerns about having a fair trial.

“We may be looking at a motion to transfer venues and try to get it into a county where it’s not too hot to handle it,” said Herschberger

We did reach out to the Midland District Attorney’s office and they said that they too are in the early stages of this case.

The final pretrial hearing is expected to happen on October 12th.

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