A defendant charged with the drug-related murder of a young man in the mid-1980s in Garden Grove appeared in court Monday, the case revived thanks to modern forensics technology.
Jesus Menchaca, 60, was charged last month with the Dec. 19, 1985, murder of 20-year-old Scott Raymond Hall. His arraignment Monday was rescheduled until Nov. 16.
Hall was stabbed to death in the 12600 block of Sunswept Avenue during a drug deal gone bad, according to Garden Grove police Lt. Bob Bogue.
Menchaca was charged with killing Hall in 1992, but the case could not go forward for lack of evidence. The investigation was revived recently and, “with the help of modern technology and forensics, we were able to bring the case to a place where we can prove the murder beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Senior Deputy District Attorney Larry Yellin.
Investigators have DNA evidence, obtained this year, that allegedly links Menchaca to the killing, Yellin said. There is other forensic evidence also tying him to the crime, the prosecutor alleged.
Menchaca’s attorney, Jacqueline Goodman, said her client was in custody for about a month in 1992 before the case against him was dropped.
Menchaca was being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
— Wire reports