Honey Jordan case back in court Tuesday

The suspected gunman in the shooting death of a well-known surgeon's wife is scheduled to appear Tuesday in Superior Court where he will be formally arraigned.
After hearing several hours of testimony last month from a key witness in the 2001 death of Hannah "Honey" Jordan, Judge Arthur Harrison determined there was enough evidence against Hector Miguel Aguirre to hold him over for trial in San Bernardino Superior Court. Aguirre is set to be formally arraigned in Dept. S17 on Tuesday morning.
Read further to get updates on other cases and defendants whose court cases are being tracked by The Sun.
Aguirre faces charges of carjacking and murder, according to court records. If he is convicted, Aguirre faces 65 years to life in state prison, under an agreement prosecutors made with Mexican authorities to have Aguirre extradited to United States last year.
The key witness in the case, Ruben Garcia, was a co-defendant until he took a sealed plea bargain in April 2006. At the preliminary hearing on Sept. 17, Garcia told the court how plans to steal a Chrysler 300 in San Bernardino were hatched in Los Angeles County. Aguirre said he had a specific key for a specific car, and he recruited Garcia to make the grab, Garcia testified.
The men followed Jordan to a doughnut shop on Highland Avenue on Dec. 31, 2001, where Aguirre pulled out a firearm to take the Chrysler by force, Garcia said. When Garcia saw the gun, he fled and but still heard the gunshots. While stopped at a red light in front of the shop, Garcia testified, he saw Aguirre pull Jordan's body from the car, get inside and take off.

In other news around the county Superior Court:

* Defendant Michael Allan Thompson, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Tuesday morning in Victorville Superior Court. Thompson, 31, is accused of driving a 21-year-old woman to a rural area of Hesperia frequented by off-road vehicles in February, where he reportedly raped her, slashed her throat and then beat her over the head with a rock, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. At a preliminary hearing, a judge will decide whether there is enough evidence against Thompson to hold him over for trial.

* Jurors will continue deliberations in the trial for Daniel Olguin, Jose Ralph Marquez and Yolando Trivizo in San Bernardino Superior Court. The three defendants are charged with the March 2005 beating, torture and strangulation death of Sean Rounsville in a San Bernardino garage. Witnesses testified that Trivizo was upset at Rounsville for firing gunshots at her and an ex-boyfriend in an earlier incident. Closing arguments from lawyers were on Wednesday, and the case was presented to jurors for deliberation.

* Stephen Michael Ressa, who admitted to plowing his vehicle into pedestrians on the busy Las Vegas Strip in 2005, faces possible life in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 9 in Clark County District Court, according to court records. Three people died in the crash and nearly a dozen others were injured. Ressa pleaded guilty under a plea bargain on Oct. 1.
Ressa still faces attempted murder charges in San Bernardino County in connection with the Sept. 19, 2005 assault on his mother, Christine Ressa, in her Rialto home. Stephen Ressa then stole a car from the 54-year-old woman, who was beaten and choked into unconsciousness. Days later, that car was used in the Las Vegas incident.