Anthony Aguilar and Carlos Blakely plead not guilty in district court

In Pahrump, Nevada’s Fifth Judicial District Court on Thursday, Carlos Blakely’s attorney, Michael A. Troiano, sought bail for his client, but Judge Kimberly Wanker denied the request.

“They [the defense] argued mere presence is not sufficient to establish first-degree murder,” said Senior Deputy District Attorney Daniel Young. “Your Honor, those arguments or similar arguments about mere presence was made in the closing at the preliminary hearing, and those arguments were declined to be considered by the magistrate that heard the preliminary hearing and said, ‘Based on the facts of this case, it was not mere presence.’ And so I don’t think that the court should put any weight on the argument of mere presence here.”

Troiano asked for Blakely’s bail to be set at $50,000 with a high-level house arrest monitor and no contact with anyone associated with the case.

After hearing Troiano’s and the state’s arguments, Wanker said, “At this point in time, after reviewing the pleadings in this case, I believe that Mr. Blakely does pose a danger to the community and I believe the court is within its authority to order Mr. Blakely held without bail.”

Future scheduling

Suspects Anthony Aguilar and Carlos Blakely both pleaded not guilty on Thursday, April 2, to their charges in connection to the July 5 murder of Joey Perry.

Aguilar entered a not guilty plea to charges of open murder with use of a deadly weapon charge and conspiracy to commit murder. Blakely faces the same charges.

“We’re going to send your case and Mr. Blakely’s case to the Supreme Court settlement program,” Wanker explained to Aguilar as he reentered the courtroom. “They will either assign a retired Supreme Court justice or retired district court judge. And what happens is that you and your attorney will be in [the courtroom], the judge is going to come in via Zoom, and the DA’s office will be here. And they will discuss things that I can’t hear. They’re going to talk about sort of the warts and wrinkles of the case, and the judge will see if they can resolve that case.”

Nevada Supreme Court rules explain that: “The purpose of a settlement conference [in criminal cases] is to facilitate good-faith discussions to resolve any criminal case before the district court in a manner that serves the interest of justice.”

Wanker added that she thinks the conference will happen in the next 90 days. “Settlement conferences generally occur pretty quickly,” the judge said.

Because both the defense and the state agreed to the terms of the planned settlement conference, a trial date was not set in yesterday’s hearing.

Ferrante’s brief appearance

Fabian Ferrante, a third suspect in the Perry murder case, also was in court Thursday. Ferrante was released on his own recognizance by Justice of the Peace Kirk Vitto in December.

Ferrante’s attorney, Ava Bravo, appeared via Zoom, but Judge Wanker requested that she be present in person for his arraignment and asked to reschedule for a later date.

The state added that it did not expect the case to be on the calendar, so a hearing for late April was set.

Contact reporter Elijah Dulay at edulay@pvtimes.com