BALTIMORE — The man accused of killing Bel Air mother Rachel Morin won’t stand trial until April, a Harford County judge ruled during a hearing Friday.
The decision came after the defense team representing Victor Martinez-Hernandez said there was a “voluminous” amount of evidence that needed to be reviewed ahead of the trial, which was set to begin in late October. That includes about a terabyte of data and scientific evidence of a “chemical nature,” public defender Marcus Jenkins said.
Through a Spanish interpreter, 23-year-old Martinez-Hernandez waived his right to a speedy trial on Friday to allow the postponement. Prosecutors, including Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healey, did not object to the defense team’s argument.
Martinez-Hernandez was indicted in July on several charges, including first-degree murder and first-degree rape, for Morin’s murder last August on Bel Air’s Ma & Pa Trail. He had been identified as a suspect in the murder and had been arrested the month before in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
During Friday’s hearing, Harford County Circuit Judge Yolanda L. Curtin also denied a bid by prosecutors to bar the prosecution from representing Martinez-Hernandez. Prosecutors had argued that the public defender’s office had once represented a man identified as a potential prosecution witness.
