A woman accused of fatally stabbing her newborn in 2022 in Nunn is slated to stand trial in November.
Though the defense is still waiting on the results of a competency evaluation, prosecutors are eager to get the case moving ahead.
Leiyla Cepeda, 20, appeared for a status conference Monday in Weld District Court. Defense attorney Reshaad Shirazi requested another status conference be set because they have still not received the results of a competency evaluation. A member of the defense team has also been out on maternity leave and will not return until June.
The evaluation was requested after Cepeda pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in August. Shirazi said the results will affect what motions the defense will file ahead of the trial.
Deputy District Attorney Daniel Skelton suggested setting the case for trial, saying the court doesn’t need to anticipate issues before they’ve arisen and noting that the case has already dragged out for nearly three years.
“We need to start setting dates,” Skelton said. “We need to move in a direction toward finality.”
Judge Audrey Galloway decided to set a trial date, but far enough in advance to allow the defense to file any motions once their team is full and has received the competency evaluation. After suggesting more than a few dates that wouldn’t work, the court settled on an eight-day trial beginning Nov. 12.
Cepeda was arrested in June 2022 and charged with two counts of suspected first-degree murder after police say she repeatedly stabbed her newborn with a pair of scissors. Cepeda was 17 — just two days short of her 18th birthday — at the time of the stabbing. She was charged as an adult.
Cepeda gave birth to a baby girl in Nunn while visiting from Texas. After cutting the umbilical cord, Cepeda stabbed the baby more than 70 times with a pair of scissors, according to police. Investigators say Cepeda then wrapped herself in a sweater before going to a bathroom to take a shower and clean herself off.
A family member of Cepeda noticed a trail of blood when he got up to use the restroom and called 911 after finding the baby.
Cepeda’s defense argued she should be tried as a juvenile, but after a lengthy reverse-transfer hearing, former Judge Meghan Saleebey ruled the case would stay in Weld District Court. Saleebey found probably cause to support that Cepeda’s suspected crimes were “premeditated, aggressive, willful and violent acts with deliberation and intent,” citing a report from the Weld coroner detailing that the stab wounds were repetitive and clustered toward the chest.
Galloway inherited the case from Saleebey, who retired from the District 12 bench of the Weld District Court last April.
Ahead of her November trial, Cepeda will appear for a two-hour pretrial motions hearing Oct. 7 and a 15-minute pretrial readiness conference Oct. 28.
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