Pelham murder suspects set to stand trial

Published 3:19 pm Monday, February 24, 2014

By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

Four suspects charged with stabbing and killing a 25-year-old man at a Pelham bar are set to stand trial on the Shelby County Circuit Court’s “next available pretrial docket,” according to court documents.

Montevallo resident Oscar Adonay Alvarenga, 32, and Pelham residents Jose Armando Erazo-Acosta, 39, Pedro Edgardo Portillo, 39, and Fernando Antonio Landaverde-Caballero, 31, are awaiting their trial dates after Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves issued scheduling orders in the men’s cases in February.

Reeves issued a scheduling order for Landaverde-Caballero on Feb. 24 and issued scheduling orders for the other three suspects on Feb. 3.

“This case is hereby continued generally to await placement on the court’s next available pretrial docket,” read the scheduling orders.

As of Feb. 24, no trial dates had been set for the four suspects, though motions for “speedy trials” had been issued in all four cases.

Pelham police arrested the four men in August 2012 and charged them with stabbing and killing 25-year-old Emilio Alonso during an altercation at a Pelham bar off Alabama 119. Alonso was pronounced dead after Pelham police responded to a wreck on U.S. 31 near Valley Elementary School during the early morning hours of Aug. 12, 2012.

The suspects previously pleaded not guilty to counts of murder, according to Shelby County Circuit Court documents. The four men have remained in the Shelby County Jail on bonds totaling $1 million each since their arrests in August 2012.

Landaverde-Caballero

Landaverde-Caballero

Alvarenga

Alvarenga

Portillo

Portillo

Erazo-Acosta

Erazo-Acosta