Gonzalez case could be dropped

SALEM – A judge said he will rule Nov. 20 on whether to dismiss charges against Ernesto Gonzalez, a Lynn man found incompetent to stand trial for allegedly kidnapping his 5-year-old son in 2008.
“If [the judge] follows the case law precedent and applies it to the statute, then he must dismiss,” Defense Attorney Russell Sobelman said outside Salem Superior Court Tuesday. “If there is no case law on point and he goes solely by the statute, then he has more discretion.”
Ernesto Gonzalez was charged with parental kidnapping and misleading investigators in the disappearance of his 5-year-old son Giovanni in August 2008. Gonzalez was the last person seen with the child, who has never been found.
At issue Tuesday, was a state law that allows defendants who have been declared incompetent to stand trial to file for dismissal if they have served at least half the maximum sentence they would have received if convicted.
Sobelman argued Gonzalez had reached that point, having been held for 5 years – half of the 10-year sentence for a conviction of misleading investigators.
But Essex Assistant District Attorney Jean Curran argued Gonzalez had only been ruled incompetent for trial last year. She said it was “premature” to have the charges dismissed so soon after that ruling, suggesting the time considered in regards to the state law should be calculated from the time of the defendant was found incompetent, not the time the defendant was incarcerated.Salem Superior Court Judge John Lu said he would not dismiss the charges Tuesday but would take the matter under advisement and issue a ruling Nov. 20.