Saturday, October 8, 2011

Montgomery, AL: Bond set at $500K in stabbing death

Autauga County District Court Judge Joy Booth ordered Friday that a man charged with the fatal stabbing of his female housemate be held under a cash-only bond of $500,000.

Romer Gonzales Jimenez, 32, hung his head and wept quietly as the judge read the charges against him and explained his legal rights. A jailer from the Autauga Metro Jail translated the judge's words into Spanish.

Ray Hawthorne Jr., an assistant district attorney with the 19th Judicial Circuit, told Booth that prosecutors felt the suspect would be a flight risk and a potential risk to the community if he were released from custody. He asked that Jimenez be held without bond, as he had been since his Wednesday arrest, or that the judge order the maximum bond allowable.

Jimenez is accused of stabbing 29-year-old Angelica Margarita Gonzales-Perez several times Monday during a domestic dispute at the Carter's Trailer Park residence the two shared. The trailer park is outside Prattville's city limits but inside its police jurisdiction.

City police and paramedics arrived at the mobile home park around 10 p.m. and discovered the woman's body on a living room couch. Attempts to revive her were unsuccessful, and Autauga County Coroner David Golson formally pronounced her dead at the scene around 11 p.m.

Five children, ranging in age from 2 to 9, were also inside the trailer. None of the children -- four of whom are reportedly the suspect's offspring and one who is reportedly the child of the victim -- were harmed.

Booth appointed Prattville attorney Kim Kervin to represent Jimenez during the initial phases of his prosecution and appointed David Dersch to serve as his interpreter during the same period.

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