TRACY, Calif. (KCBS) -- Beginning later this month, a grand jury is expected to convene to decide if Melissa Huckaby should stand trial for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu.
The proceeding will last about two weeks and take the place of Huckaby's preliminary hearing.
"The prosecution wants to go grand jury on this case because it preserves the testimony without making the testimony public. They can put on all of their evidence and the devastating impact of that evidence won't make its way into the public until the time of trial. This may save the prosecution from saving a change of venue motion," said Steven Clark, a former prosecutor who has been following the case.
Clark says the grand jury proceeding could speed up the entire process, meaning Melissa Huckaby could go to trial in as little as 6-months.
Huckaby, a Sunday school teacher and neighbor of Sandra’s is charged with kidnapping, rape with a foreign object, lewd and lascivious acts on a child under age 14, and murder. On June 12, she pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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