Hearings in trial of Californian handyman accused of murdering Cork-born bishop in LA postponed

Preliminary hearings in the trial of a Californian handyman accused of murdering a Cork-born bishop in Los Angeles have been postponed for a week.

Mr Carlos Medina, who denies shooting Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell at his east LA home last February, is expected to appear at the Los Angeles Criminal Justice Center again on Aug 16th.

Health and scheduling issues are believed to have contributed to delays on the road to a full trial.

A judge still has to rule if there is enough evidence to point to ‘probable cause”. If so, a full trial would be expected to get under way later this year.

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Mr Medina (61), who was married to the late bishop’s housekeeper, faces a single “187A” charge under the Californian penal code.

This alleges he plotted in advance to end the life of the sleeping man known in his community as “Bishop Dave” on February 18th. He faces 35 years to life if found guilty.

Despite reports of money disputes, and unproven allegations that the handyman has a history of psychiatric issues and drug use, no motive has yet emerged.

Bishop O’Connell was born in Brooklodge, Glounthaune, Co Cork in July 1953, helping out on the family farm while studying for the priesthood at All Hallows College in Dublin.

He was ordained as an associate pastor in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1979 by Archbishop Timothy Dalton, a future cardinal who was born in Ballingeary in County Cork – fifty miles west of Brooklodge. He returned to Ireland frequently.

He spent much of his life working with the poor in the wealthiest region of the United States. Bishop O’Connell built his reputation as a peacemaker in the wake of the 1992 Rodney King riots. After 12,000 arrests he was instrumental in rebuilding some trust between police officers and communities across South Los Angeles.

In June Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Pope Francis’s nuncio or ambassador to the United States, speaking at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in Orlando, Florida, described him as a “shepherd who immersed himself in the reality of his sheep, who walked with them, and was with them in finding a way no matter the difficulty of their circumstances”.