"One of two defendants with ties to the Zizian cult appeared before a Solano County Superior Court judge on Thursday and requested to fire her defense attorney. The request comes five weeks before the start of a jury trial for Alexander Jeffrey Leatham, 30, and co-defendant Suri Dao, 24, who are charged in connection with the 2022 attempted murder of a Vallejo landlord and face felony murder charges because one of their alleged accomplices died during the attack."
"A so-called "Marsden motion" by Leatham, a transgender woman, surfaced during a trial confirmation hearing in Department 22 in the Hall of Justice in Fairfield, where Judge John B. Ellis heard the defendant - shackled while seated in a chair, strands of her brown hair reaching her shoulders - read from a handwritten note expressing a desire to release Alternate Public Defender Carol Long and retain a new lawyer."
"Ellis also told San Francisco-based attorney Brian Ford, who represents Dao, that he had not read the attorney's submitted motion to continue in limine motions in the case and therefore could not rule on it. Dao, a state prison inmate recently transferred from the California Institution for Women in Chino to Solano County Jail, was making her second in-person Fairfield court appearance."
Two defendants, Alexander Jeffrey Leatham and Suri Dao, face charges stemming from a 2022 attempted murder of a Vallejo landlord and felony murder counts after an alleged accomplice died. Leatham, identified as a transgender woman, sought to relieve Alternate Public Defender Carol Long via a Marsden motion during a trial confirmation hearing before Judge John B. Ellis. Leatham appeared shackled and read a handwritten note requesting new counsel. Judge Ellis said he had not reviewed defense motions to continue in limine filed by Brian Ford, Dao's attorney. Dao, recently transferred from Chino, made a court appearance and both defendants were ordered to return for further hearings on Sept. 18 and Sept. 24.
Read at The Mercury News
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