Gonzalez kidnapping case continued to August

SALEM – The case against Ernesto L. Gonzalez, the Lynn father who authorities say was the last person to see his missing 5-year-old son alive during a weekend visit nearly three years ago, was continued Monday in Salem Superior Court until next month.Assistant District Attorney Jean M. Curran told Judge John T. Lu that prosecutors are appealing his decision to dismiss a parental kidnapping charge and that the appeal’s division of the District Attorney’s office is assembling the record to present to the higher court.A decision handed down by Lu in June in favor of the defense said Gonzalez cannot be charged with parental kidnapping because there was no court order denying him custody of his son, Giovanni, who disappeared in August 2008 after a visit with his father at his 1 Brightwood Terrace apartment in Lynn.The case was continued until Aug. 15 to determine at that time if a single justice of the Appeals Court has decided to hear the matter or if the full bench of the Supreme Judicial Court will.If the SJC hears the appeal, usually that process takes about six months, but if a single justice reviews the case, that process is usually shorter, according to defense lawyer Christopher S. Skinner.