Preliminary hearing for suspects tied to Jacob Sims murder underway

EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA) - The preliminary hearing for the suspects tied to the murder of a young man from Yuma started Wednesday.

During the hearing six defendants were in the courtroom, facing charges which include torture, murder, robbery, aggravated kidnapping and conspiracy to commit a crime.

These are all tied to the murder of 23-year-old Jacob Sims. His remains were found in Winterhaven in November of 2024.

"Today was a complete nightmare as soon as we get here to the courthouse," said Jacob Sims' grandmother Genia Sims.

Family members of Jacob Sims encountered issues upon arrival at the courthouse regarding clothing bearing the victim's image.

The decision to allow such attire rests with the presiding judge at El Centro Courthouse, and Sims said she came prepared regardless of which judge was assigned to the courtroom.

"We already knew that this one judge - she doesn't let you wear the T-shirts in the court room, and this was just the initial court appearance we had to do today," she explained. "We were just gonna be in there for a little bit, and then they were gonna send us to a different courtroom with a different judge, and, so I had brought a zipper jacket to cover up my shirt, so that they wouldn’t see it, and then when they allowed us in the other court room to wear the shirt, then I just have to take it off. They wouldn’t even allow me to wear that jacket with the zipper."

Proceedings were further disrupted when the hearing did not begin at its scheduled time. The session was continued to later in the day because defense counsel for all six defendants were not present in the courtroom simultaneously.

"It's chaos in there," said Sims. "Nobody's ready. Nobody has their stuff together...I call it a circus act, because that's exactly what it looks like in there. I mean, the prosecutors...they're ready and everything - but it's the defense attorneys that they’re just all over the place."

Two Imperial County investigators were also called to testify. One investigator stated he responded to a report of a potential burned body.

He told the court that upon arrival he observed a fire pit that was still smoldering. He said he first saw wood in the pit and then discovered a corpse.

The hearing is scheduled to resume Thursday afternoon and is expected to run through Friday.