Jury selection is slated to get underway next week for the murder trial of a 30-year-old man accused of shooting his older brother during a fight at their Sage home.
Edgar Hernan Mancia is charged in the June 2019 death of 29-year-old Daniel Mancia.
During a status hearing Thursday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Timothy Freer set pretrial motions and juror screening to start Monday at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.
According to a trial brief filed by the prosecution, the brothers were notorious for turning combative with one another, and Daniel Mancia, who was two inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than Edgar, was known to prevail much of the time.
The brief, filed by Deputy District Attorney Josh DeGonia, said that on the night of June 16, 2019, another altercation erupted inside the Mancia family home in the 40000 block of San Ignacio Road, and the defendant’s girlfriend became so concerned about the intensity of the fistfight that she bolted from the residence and returned to her own.
DeGonia said Edgar Mancia suffered a black eye and multiple bruises around his face and neck during the fisticuffs.
Because of a lack of witnesses, what transpired at the property after the woman left was rooted mostly in theories based on circumstantial and physical evidence later recovered.
The men’s mother returned home from work in the predawn hours the following day and became concerned that she could not find Daniel, according to the brief. Sheriff’s deputies patrolling the area happened to locate the victim’s car parked on a road with a flat tire about four miles from the residence, according to the prosecution.
When his mother learned of the find and the fact that her eldest son had not shown up for work, she reported him missing.
When the defendant was questioned by investigators, he told them he and his sibling had been drinking “and they became involved in a violent altercation,” DeGonia wrote.
“Edgar claimed he was experiencing alcohol-induced blackout and could not recall the events accurately,” the brief states. “Edgar claimed he remembered Daniel was on top of him, and at some point, Daniel choked him. Edgar said he was reaching for objects on the ground, and he may have obtained a kitchen utensil and stabbed Daniel.”
Blood evidence was located on the front porch of the house, according to court papers.
“Investigators later found out there were firearms stored in the residence, and they discovered that a .308 caliber rifle was missing,” DeGonia wrote. “Some of the nearby residents reported hearing the sound of a gunshot that Sunday night.”
The victim’s remains have not been located despite multiple searches around the home and surrounding locations.
Mancia is being in lieu of $1 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center.