The following high-profile cases are scheduled to move forward in the Pasadena Courthouse this week.
Tuesday, July 6
At 8:30 a.m., a preliminary hearing date is scheduled to be set for Robert Cotton, who is charged with fatally stabbing his mother and uncle at their Altadena home on March 22.
Cotton, 32, is charged with two counts of murder for the March 22 killings of his mother, Carol Anne Brown, 67, and her brother, Kenneth Wayne Preston, 69, while Brown was on a Zoom call with colleagues from Pasadena City College.
The charges include an allegation that Cotton personally used a knife in the commission of the crime.
On May 12, Cotton pleaded not guilty to stabbing the victims at their Altadena home.
At the Alhambra Courthouse, a pretrial hearing is scheduled for Armando Hernandez at 8:30 a.m.
Hernandez is charged with first-degree murder with enhancements for committing the act for the benefit of or in association with a criminal street gang, in connection with the shooting death of Pasadena resident Sergio Luevanos, 38, on July 24, 2017.
Pasadena police records show officers responded to a call regarding gunfire in the area around 11:30 p.m. Upon arriving on site, officers found the victim suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest. He was transported to a hospital, where he died at 12:16 a.m. the next day.
Police said the attack was sparked by a gang rivalry.
Thursday, July 8
At 8:30 a.m., a preliminary hearing date is scheduled to be set for Steve Carlos Williams, who is charged in an alleged robbery and armed assault at Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles in Pasadena that police say was sparked by a demand that he wear a face covering.
On Feb. 3, according to police records, Williams allegedly held up the restaurant at 830 N. Lake Ave. after he was denied service and fled with only food.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges on March 25.
Friday, July 9
At 8:30 a.m., further proceedings are scheduled for Mary Jean O’Connor, a homeless woman charged with killing a 75-year-old Pasadena woman in the victim’s condominium.
Police records said O’Connor was a transient woman when the crime occurred in December 2018. Officers performing a welfare check on December 17, 2018, found the victim, Jeri Douglas, strangled to death.
O’Connor was eventually charged with one count of murder, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
O’Connor faces a possible maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison. Bail is set at $2 million.
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