A state appeals court tossed on procedural grounds a case involving charges of child rape and human trafficking against the leader of a Mexican megachurch who lived in Southern California.
A three-judge panel of the California Second District Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that state prosecutors made a procedural error that violated Naason Joaquin García’s rights to a speedy trial and threw out the criminal complaint against him based on that error.
“Absent a personal and express time waiver by García, he was entitled to a preliminary hearing within the statutory period applicable to the amended complaint,” California Associate Justice Laurie Zelon wrote on behalf of the panel in the 33-page ruling.
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García, the self-proclaimed apostle of La Luz del Mondo – which means “The Light of the World” in Spanish – was arrested in June and accused of participating in human trafficking and child rape. He was arrested alongside his associates, Susana Medina Oaxaca and Alondra Ocampo, who were all charged with a total of 29 felony counts. All three have denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.
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