Former West Sacramento police officer, Sergio Alvarez,
speaks with his attorney Gabriel Quinnan at his plea entry hearing Thursday, at
the Yolo County Courthouse. (Sue Cockrell/Davis Enterprise pool photograph)
A trial against a former West Sacramento police officer
accused of rape and a number of other charges is expected to take at least two
weeks.
But it will be at least two more weeks before the public
knows the date of the trial for Sergio Alvarez. A trial hearing conference was
continued Friday until Tuesday, April 9.
Alvarez pleaded not guilty on March 7 to charges of
kidnapping, sexual penetration, oral copulation and sodomy against the victims'
will. He waived the right to a trial within 60 days at that hearing.
"We need time to confer with our experts to get a
meaningful trial date," said Gabriel Quinnan, Alvarez's lawyer.
Supervising Deputy District Attorney Garrett Hamilton agreed
and said he doesn't want to set a trial date "unless it's going to
stay" with a number of civilian witnesses who will be testifying.
Judge Dave Rosenberg asked how many days the trial will take
and Hamilton responded between "12 to 15 court days."
After the last hearing, Quinnan had been expected to file a
request for a bail hearing. Quinnan had no comment Friday on that request with
Alvarez's bail remaining at $26.3 million.
A uniformed patrol officer who worked alone during the night
shift, Alvarez allegedly coerced his victims into sex by "threatening to
use his authority as a public official to arrest and/or incarcerate" them,
according to an indictment filed against him. The alleged assaults were said to
take place between Oct. 1, 2011 and Sept. 23, 2012, with some occurring in his
patrol car and others in an undisclosed location.
West Sacramento police say one victim told another officer
she had been assaulted, sparking a five-month investigation conducted jointly
by the Sacramento and West Sacramento police departments. That investigation
wrapped up in late February and Alvarez was fired and arrested.