Arraignment postponed again for defendant in Watsonville Fish House homicide

Arraignment was postponed a second time Wednesday for Michael Escobar, the 31-year-old man accused of killing two people in Watsonville this month, including a 4-year-old girl.

Escobar is charged with two counts of murder for the deaths of Jaelyn Zavala and Ramon Rendon. He’s also charged with attempted murder for the shooting of a second man.

The child and the 26-year-old man were in an office at the back of the Watsonville Fish House restaurant when they were shot. Rendon was found outside the motel next door.

In Santa Cruz County Superior Court Wednesday, Escobar appeared with his public defender, Mark Briscoe. Briscoe previously represented Escobar in a bank robbery case in which the cases were ultimately dropped due to issues with evidence.

Briscoe asked for the arraignment to be delayed for a second time, citing the fact that the prosecution has not turned over all the information to the defense yet. He said he needed to see more of the information about potential witnesses in order to determine whether representing Escobar would pose a conflict of interest for his law firm.

“We’re in a somewhat difficult situation,” he said. ‘We’re now 12 days into an investigation and we haven’t been provided with (the evidence for the charges against him.)”

Prosecutor Johanna Schonfield said she would be turning over a “substantial number of reports” to the defense by the end of this week.

Judge Timothy Volkmann, who denied requests from the media to photograph and record in court, set the new arraignment date for Nov. 5.

Escobar remains in custody at Santa Cruz County Jail without bail.

Watsonville police allege that Escobar fired several shots at Rendon, 33, as the man left his job at the motel. Stray bullets struck the restaurant, killing Jaelyn Zavala and striking the 26-year-old man.

The little girl’s family owns the restaurant, which was just reopened Tuesday in the wake of the shooting. A memorial service for the child was held in Marina Tuesday night.