By Khalida Sarwari
It’s been nearly 3½ years since two men barged into the home of Saratoga residents Charles and Carol Maridon and brutally attacked the father and daughter, beating the elder Maridon to death.
On March 21, after a nearly three-day preliminary hearing for Juan Cortinas, one of two men accused in the case, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Linda Clark ordered the 35-year-old San Jose man to stand trial in the death of 96-year-old Charles “Charlie” Maridon during a home invasion robbery.
Cortinas’ next scheduled court appearance is May 13 at 1:30 p.m. at the Hall of Justice in San Jose. At that hearing, he will be arraigned on one count of murder and two counts of first-degree robbery. A trial date has not yet been set.
If convicted of all charges, he could face a maximum sentence of death or life without the possibility of parole, according to deputy district attorney David Boyd.
Cortinas is being represented by Santa Clara County deputy public defender Barney Berkowitz, who said that he would challenge Clark’s holding order, claiming that her decision was based on speculation rather than suspicion.
“Our position is that there’s not even sufficient evidence to support a suspicion that Mr. Cortinas committed these crimes,” he said. “The evidence at the preliminary hearing established that Sonny Lopez committed these crimes. We maintain that Juan Cortinas is completely innocent of these crimes.”
When Cortinas was arrested in September 2011, he was in custody on charges related to another case.
The violent attack on the Maridons occurred on Dec. 3, 2009, at their home at 21085 Wardell Road. Cortinas and a second suspect in the case, Sonny Lopez, allegedly broke into the home around 11 p.m. through unsecured doors.
According to Boyd, Maridon was in bed asleep at the time and his 64-year-old daughter, Carol, was getting ready to go to bed. With their faces covered, the intruders brutally attacked both Charles Maridon and his daughter with their hands and fists while demanding valuables. They eventually fled with jewelry and other personal items and were seen carrying flashlights.
The authorities didn’t hear of the attack until the following morning.
“The phone line had been cut, so Carol was not able to call 911,” Boyd said.
Paulo Lopez, the father of Sonny Lopez, worked as a landscaper at the home and arrived the next morning to find the father and daughter suffering from severe head and face injuries. He immediately flagged down a sheriff’s deputy, and both victims were transported to a local hospital.
The daughter was treated for her injuries and survived, but Maridon, who never left the hospital, died of his injuries on Dec. 18, 2009, after undergoing surgery. In addition to bruising and contusions to his face, he also had a fractured rib.
Cortinas has an extensive criminal record. At the time of his arrest in the Maridon case, Cortinas was awaiting a pre-trial hearing for a separate charge of battery on a peace officer, for which he was arrested on Oct. 19, 2010, according to the district attorney’s office.
He was also involved in a third case for which he was sentenced in July 2011 to two years in state prison for second-degree burglary and five years for second-degree burglary, grand theft, reckless driving while fleeing or eluding peace officers, and forgery.
Cortinas was a co-worker of Lopez, a 34-year-old San Jose man who was fatally shot by Fremont police officers on March 7, 2010, after a SWAT stakeout in Cupertino. Lopez was wanted on suspicion of fatally shooting his uncle, 49-year-old Larry Lopez, inside his Fremont home in the 100 block of Sycamore Street on March 1, 2010.
Lopez had allegedly told his ex-girlfriend and her mother that he shot and killed his uncle over a conflict regarding the transfer of a car. Lopez also allegedly admitted to them that he was involved in the murder of Charles Maridon, according to the district attorney’s office.
Santa Clara County prosecutors declined to file charges against the three Fremont police officers who shot and killed Lopez, claiming that all of the shots fired by the officers were legally justified.
Judge orders Cortinas to stand trial for the 2009 murder of Maridon
