Hearing Waived in Child Abduction

A Lake Elsinore man agreed Monday to give up his right to a court hearing that would have established whether there is enough evidence to bring him to trial in the abduction and slaying of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion.

Alejandro “Alex” Avila, 27, waived his preliminary hearing after his defense team failed to convince Orange County Superior Court Judge Francisco P. Briseno that they needed more time to review DNA evidence that allegedly links him to the crime.

The decision to skip the proceeding, which the defense did not explain in court or afterward, sets the stage for the trial to begin.

Avila has pleaded not guilty to one count of kidnapping, two counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 and one count of murder. A special-circumstances filing along with those charges can bring the death penalty, which prosecutors have said they will seek.

Samantha was abducted July 15 as she played with a friend outside her Stanton home. Her body was found the next day along a mountain road near Lake Elsinore, in Riverside County. The case was one of at least four child kidnappings this year to draw nationwide attention.

Prosecutors allege that DNA evidence, credit card and cell phone records, tire tracks and footprints link Avila to the crime.

They have provided the defense with more than 11,000 pages of documents and other records to review.

In court Monday, assistant public defender Phil Zalewski said he was not comfortable going forward with the information that he and DNA experts had gathered so far because even though the scientific analysis was complete, further interpretations were necessary.

But Briseno said there was insufficient evidence to delay the preliminary hearing. He noted that he had previously granted the defense more time to prepare for the hearing.