Several Mercer Island criminal cases have recently undergone hearing and trial date changes, and they are now either scheduled to occur throughout the remainder of this year or have been placed on the court docket for 2025.
* In the case of Mohammad Ajoly, who pleaded not guilty to charges of two counts of attempted kidnapping in a Mercer Island incident in June, his pre-trial omnibus hearing is scheduled for Nov. 12 and his trial date is slated for Dec. 24 at the King County Courthouse.
“The case was continued on a defense motion and they listed ‘investigation and negotiation’ as the reasons,” said Casey McNerthney, director of communications of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. In this instance, he’s referring to what’s outlined in the King County Superior Court case.
Ajoly, who entered his plea in the child-luring incident at his arraignment in King County Superior Court on Aug. 29, is currently being held awaiting trial on $50,000 bail at the King County Correctional Facility, according to court documents.
* In a Mercer Island residential burglary case from August, defendants Eleyigth Huerta and Kelly Sanders, who both pleaded not guilty to various charges, have Nov. 18 omnibus hearings on the court docket. Looking further ahead, Huerta’s trial is set for Dec. 23 while Sanders’ trial dips into the new year on Jan. 6, according to court documents.
At their September arraignments, they were charged with residential burglary, second-degree theft and two counts of second-degree vehicle prowl. Huerta is currently being held on $10,000 bail, and Sanders is currently being held on $50,000 bail.
* Philip J. Brewer and Christina Joel Hardy remain held on $5 million bail each after being charged in the homicide of Mercer Island resident Curtis Engeland in February. They both pleaded not guilty of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree identify theft and first-degree theft charges.
The defendants’ new omnibus hearings are each scheduled for Dec. 4 and their trials have been moved to Jan. 13, 2025, according to court documents. Hardy’s dates have been continued because of investigation and negotiation reasons and Brewer’s have been continued because of discovery review, defense investigation and witness interviews, documents read.
* Rolling the clock back to 2023, Mercer Island’s Nevin Shetty pleaded not guilty in May to alleged embezzlement activities. He was indicted in U.S. District Court in Seattle for secretly transferring $35 million from his company’s account to invest in his own cryptocurrency operation.
His trial — which stemmed from an FBI investigation in 2022 and resulted in charges of wire fraud and misusing funds — is now slated to occur on March 31, 2025, according to court documents.
Shetty has filed several motions relating to the case, including one to suppress evidence and others to dismiss the indictment and continue the trial date.
In the suppression realm, Shetty zeroed in on a government search warrant’s affidavit and noted that it is based on false and misleading facts in the wire fraud investigation. The court denied the motion.
When the government filed a motion to exclude expert witness testimony ahead of the trial, Shetty countered that the court “should deny the government’s motion or defer it until trial” because the two primary topics — cryptocurrency and corporate law — to be discussed are major themes of his defense.
