CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SANTA ROSA : Salcido Pleads Innocent to Murder

Winery worker Ramon Salcido pleaded innocent to murdering his wife, two daughters and four others. In a brief appearance before Sonoma County Superior Court Judge J. Brian Jamar in Santa Rosa, Salcido’s trial was tentatively set to begin Jan. 30. He could be sentenced to death if convicted. Salcido, 28, was arrested in his native Mexico several days after the April 14 killings. Public Defender Marteen Miller said he needed more time to prepare and will probably ask for a delay in the trial. Among other things, Miller said, he is preparing motions to move the trial to another county because of news coverage; to challenge the voluntariness of Salcido’s reported confession in Mexico, and to argue that the U.S.-Mexico extradition treaty forbids a death sentence. Salcido is charged with murdering his wife, Angela; two of their three daughters; his wife’s mother; two of his wife’s sisters, and a winery co-worker. A third daughter, Carmina, 3, had her throat slashed but survived.