The murder trial of two suspects accused of killing Jordan Hickey in 2011 as he was pushing his bicycle uphill near National City was delayed Monday until July 15 in San Diego Superior Court.
The case was moved from Chula Vista Superior Court after District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis decided to seek the death penalty on Jan. 3 against the alleged gunman, and life in prison without parole for the driver, if they are convicted.
Execution will be sought for Humberto Emanuel “Beto” Galvez, 20, if he is convicted of first-degree murder in the April 29, 2011, slaying of Hickey, 21. A life term without the possibility of parole would be sought for the driver, Juan Ignacio Gomez, 22, if he is convicted.
Both men are accused of killing Hickey, who was shot three times at 12:35 a.m. in the 2800 block of Grove Street, in association with a criminal street gang. They are accused of the special circumstance of murder during a drive-by shooting.
Jordan Hickey was developmentally disabled and lived with his mother, Jeannine Hickey, in Lincoln Acres, an unincorporated area of National City. He was on his way home when he was shot.
Attorneys for Galvez and Gomez could not be reached for comment. The two men lived in the same house on Logan Avenue until their arrests on March 22, 2012, in Chula Vista.
A witness testified in a preliminary hearing in 2012 that both men admitted to him they killed Hickey for no apparent reason. “We just went looking for anyone to kill just for the fun of it,” he quoted one of them as saying.
