HILLSBORO, Ore. (AP) - A judge on Tuesday approved a three-month delay in the trial of a teenager accused of killing a woman at a suburban Portland apartment complex in August 2014 because the former lead detective didn’t turn over all evidence to the prosecution or defense for review.
Opening statements were scheduled to begin this week in the trial of Jaime Tinoco-Camarena, 19, charged with aggravated murder and unlawful use of a weapon in Nicole Laube’s stabbing.
But Washington County Senior Deputy District Attorney Jeff Lesowski said he learned last Friday of the evidence - 310 pages of tips taken from the public on Laube’s suspected killer. He didn’t receive the pages until Sunday and then got copies to the defense team Monday, he said.
The new information warranted more time for the defense to conduct its own investigation of the evidence, Washington County Circuit Judge Kirsten Thompson later ruled.
A new jury will now hear opening statements June 6.
The teen’s attorneys requested one to three months to review the tip sheets, which they said had additional information on other possible suspects in the killing.
“We’re not the police department, we don’t have unlimited amounts of resources,” said Robert Axford, one of the attorneys. “We have one investigator that would be able to follow all of this up and we believe it’s very important and critical to give Mr. Tinoco-Camarena a fair trial.”
James George, a retired county sheriff’s detective who was the lead investigator in the case, told the judge that most of the information compiled on the tip sheets wasn’t “useful or pertinent” to the investigation.
He estimated the documents encompassed about 150 calls fielded by deputies after the Sheriff’s Office released a sketch of the suspect a month after Laube’s death.
Investigators didn’t follow up on the majority of the tips, said George, now a truancy officer with the Northwest Regional Education Service District. He retired in September 2015 after 26 years with the Sheriff’s Office.
“I guess I was mistaken. I didn’t realize that they probably should have submitted into evidence,” George said. “I just didn’t consider them to be evidence that needed to be turned into a property evidence room.”
He said sheriff’s detectives investigated several people including Laube’s relatives and acquaintances in connection with her death. They identified Tinoco-Camarena, a stranger to Laube who lived at nearby, as a suspect three days after releasing the sketch.
Prosecutors allege Tinoco-Camarena stabbed Laube, 29, once with a kitchen knife while she was hanging lease renewal filers outside at the Commons at Timber Creek Apartments, where she worked. Court records show the teen told investigators he planned to rape Laube, but she started screaming and he ran away.
He was 17 when Laube was killed, so prosecutors can’t seek the death penalty in the case. The teen is believed to have fled to his nearby apartment after stabbing Laube, prosecutors allege.
A month later, Tinoco-Camarena attacked and raped a woman near Autzen Stadium in Eugene after a University of Oregon football game on a trip approved by the Washington County Juvenile Department. He was on probation at the time for harassment, drug possession and burglary.
He was separated from the group of about 12 other youths as they left toward the end of the game. Juvenile Department counselors didn’t notice Tinoco-Camarena was missing until after they were driving home from the stadium. He was missing for about six hours.
Tinoco-Camarena was arrested shortly after the attack. He pleaded guilty in March 2015 in Lane County to kidnapping, assault and rape and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Authorities announced the next month that he was being charged in Laube’s death. Court documents show he confessed to stabbing Laube.
The county-approved Juvenile Department trip program has since been discontinued. The county settled a lawsuit filed by the woman attacked by Tinoco-Camarena for $666,700 last October.
The teen spent much of his time in court Tuesday fidgeting in his seat. Dressed in an olive green dress shirt and dark pants, he alternated between sticking his hands in his pockets and propping his chin up with his hands as he waited for the proceedings to begin.
The parents of Tinoco-Camarena and Laube declined to speak after the hearing.
Police and court officials have before now referred to the teen as Jaime Tinoco. But they’re now calling him by his full name, Jaime Tinoco-Camarena.
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Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, https://www.oregonlive.com
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