Jury selection suspended in Cortez’s murder trial

Jury selection is suspended, for now, in the first of two murder trials for a man accused of slaying a toddler in January 2011 and killing the girl’s mother less than nine months later.

Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara said during a June 25 court hearing the 54 prospective jurors remaining in the pool are ordered to return at 9 a.m. Aug. 3, in the trial of 40-year-old Xavier “Pee Wee” Cortez Jr. The trial is for the strangulation death of 20-year-old Sommer Ferreira, Cortez’s girlfriend, on Sept. 20, 2011, in the Wainaku home where they lived.

After a bench conference with Cortez’s attorney, Stanton Oshiro, and Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Lee, Hara said the reason for the delay is because of a possible appeal, apparently of at least one pre-trial ruling made by Hara in the case. No appeal had been filed as of Monday, according to court records.

An appeal to the state’s Intermediate Court of Appeals could delay the trial until a ruling is issued.

Cortez, a former professional boxer, also faces a murder charge in the beating death of Ferreira’s 18-month-old daughter, Pomaikai Ferreira, in another Wainaku apartment Cortez shared with Sommer Ferreira.

Cortez was arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault Jan. 2, 2011, after police received a report the child was taken to Hilo Medical Center with breathing difficulties. Cortez was later released from custody pending further investigation. The girl was transferred to The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, where she died a week later.

Trial for Cortez in that case is set for Aug. 11 in Hilo Circuit Court with Kona Circuit Judge Ronald Ibarra presiding, although it’s possible that trial also won’t start as scheduled.

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.