Cortner, along with Nathan Goddard and Lionel Combs III, are charged in the death of Det. Jorge Del Rio. The three are accused of participating in a drug conspiracy that led to Del Rio’s shooting death in a law enforcement raid in November 2019.
Last week, a motions hearing was conducted via teleconference in front of Judge Michael Newman. The motions covered during the hearing included one request by Goddard’s attorney for a time extension to present mitigating factors to prosecutors for why prosecutors should not seek the death penalty in the case.
Newman granted that request, and the new deadline for Goddard’s attorneys is May 1. Prosecutors will then have until Oct. 1 to make their decision whether to pursue the death penalty.
Prosecutors have already said they will not seek the death penalty against Cortner nor Combs. But, prosecutors have said they still face serious charges and should not be let out of jail pending trial.
Cortner asked the judge to allow him out of jail while the attorneys prepare for that trial. It was the second time Cortner has asked a judge to release him. Previously, Judge Thomas Rose denied his motion for release.
Newman made the same ruling.
“In this case, even assuming the court determined that there is new information material to the issue of pretrial detention -- which it does not -- the undersigned would nevertheless continue to find by clear and convincing evidence that there is no condition or combination of conditions set forth (in the law) that will reasonably assure the appearance of defendant as required and the safety of the community,” Newman wrote in his latest ruling.
Newman also denied Cortner’s motion to sever his trial from the others, saying that at this time the facts of the case point to that they should be tried together.
A next court hearing date has not been set in the case.
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