Brawley murder suspects appear in court together following extradition

IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA) - The two men arrested in connection with a fatal shooting in Brawley appeared side-by-side in court for the first time Wednesday morning.

Genaro Lemus, 23, and Matthew Nathan Garnica, 25, faced an Imperial County Superior Court judge for a scheduled pre-trial setting hearing.

While this marks the fourth court appearance for Lemus, it was the first time Garnica appeared in the local courtroom following his recent extradition back to Imperial County.

Both men stand accused of murder in the February shooting death of 43-year-old Steven Angulo.

The formal entry of the not guilty pleas clears the way for the two separate defense teams to begin sharing information and coordinating their legal strategies moving forward.

Attorneys representing both defendants emphasized they are facing an uphill battle due to the sheer volume of discovery materials involved in the case.

"We'll now work together," said defense attorney Veronica Henderson. "You know, there's things that might be relevant for the other defendant. We'll share that information and work to try to resolve the matter if we can, otherwise we'll go to trial."

Henderson added that processing the current evidence is a slow, ongoing procedure.

"There's still plenty, there's probably more coming. It takes a long time to go through all of it. We get it kind of in patches and piece-meals," she explained

On top of sorting through the state's evidence, the defense plans to launch an independent investigation, which includes collecting and reviewing several interviews, conditional reports, and police footage.

The timeline is especially tight for Garnica's defense counsel, Jason C. Amavisca, who is still playing catch-up due to the recent extradition timeline.

"Just collecting several interviews that have to be reviewed, conditional reports," Amavisca noted outside the courtroom. "I'm fairly new to this case. I've had it for about a month, so it's gonna take some time to decipher the case and go through everything."

The judge ruled that both Lemus and Garnica will remain behind bars at the Imperial County Jail on a no-bail status pending further determination.

Both defendants are scheduled to return to the Imperial County Superior Court on September 23 to defend their case.