Julio Flores, who already is serving a 20-year-to-life sentence for murder, had until today to decide whether to accept a plea offer from prosecutors for desecrating human remains. He told Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi in Hackensack this morning that he’d rather take his chances with a jury.
“So Mr. Flores, today’s your last day,” the judge said. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to trial,” Flores, 36, replied through a Spanish interpreter.
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Danielle Grootenboer has already said that she will be seeking an additional 10 years, without parole, in addition to the time he’s serving at Ossining State Prison in New York.
Grootenboer (below, left) has said she’ll calling the county medical examiner to testify as an expert witness in forensic pathology, among other witnesses.
Public defender Robert Kalisch (at right, above & below) noted that Flores, a Guatemalan native, is not a U.S. citizen, meaning that he will be subject to deportation once he finishes his sentence — or sentences.
Flores is being housed in the Bergen County Jail while the local case wends its way to conclusion.
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STORY / COURT PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter
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