Gonzalez case continued until July

SALEM – The case against Ernesto L. Gonzalez, the Lynn father charged in relation to the disappearance of his 5-year-old son nearly three years ago, was continued until next month, when a trial date may be scheduled.In the meantime, Assistant District Attorney Jean M. Curran and defense lawyer Christopher S. Skinner are awaiting a decision from Judge John T. Lu regarding a motion to dismiss the parental kidnapping charge against Gonzalez.Gonzalez, 39, a former meat packer, is accused of parental kidnapping and misleading investigators as to the whereabouts of Giovanni, who was just 5 years old when he disappeared in August of 2008 during a visit with his father at his 2 Brightwood Terrace apartment in Lynn.Giovanni was reported missing on Aug. 17, 2008 by his mother, Daisy Colon, who went to pick him up from a pre-arranged visit at his father’s home and discovered he wasn’t there. Police combed the city of Lynn searching for Giovanni, but he has never been located.In Salem Superior Court Wednesday, Skinner told Judge Howard J. Whitehead that, based on the ruling by Lu, another preliminary trial motion may be filed by the defense prior to trial.Whitehead agreed to continue the case to July 11 for setting a possible trial date.Skinner has challenged the parental kidnapping charge in hopes of getting it dismissed, contending that his client is presumed to have the same legal right to the child as the mother and, therefore, grand jurors lacked any legal basis to indict Gonzalez on that charge.Skinner reminded Lu that Gonzalez is the biological father of Giovanni, was paying child support and that no court order had been filed concerning legal custody of his son, therefore Gonzalez cannot, under state law, be convicted of the charge.But Curran maintains that, because Giovanni was born out of wedlock, legal custody goes solely to the mother and that Gonzalez was never adjudicated to be the boy’s father.Gonzalez, who remains at the Middleton Jail without bail, has pleaded innocent to both charges. He faces up to five years in state prison on the parental kidnapping charge and up to 10 years in state prison for lying to law enforcement officers. There is no minimum mandatory penalty on either of the two charges lodged against him.