LOS ANGELES—Longtime adult performer Mercedes Carrera and her husband, Daemon Cins, were arrested in February of last year, and have remained in jail ever since, as they face charges that they sexually abused a nine-year-old girl — identified by Carrera as her own daughter.
Now, after a Monday hearing at San Bernardino County Superior Court in Rancho Cucamonga, Carrera and Cins must remain incarcerated, likely through October at least. According to documents posted online by the court, their trial is now set to start no later than October 19.
In June, a pre-trial on the accusations was delayed for the sixth time. Monday’s delay, granted by Superior Court Judge Michael Knish, marks the seventh postponement of the pre-trial deliberations.
Carrera faces one count of “sexual intercourse/sodomy with a child 10 years old or younger,” and 10 counts of “sexual penetration/oral copulation with a child 10 years old or younger,” according to the court documents, which also show Cins facing the same list of charges.
Monday’s scheduled pre-trial hearing was reset for one month, to Thursday, August 20. Without a further postponement — or guilty pleas from Carrera and Cins — the couple’s trial is set to get underway no later than October 19.
Monday’s hearing was attended by telephone by Cins’ attorney Nicola Fitzgerald. However, according to the documents, Carrera’s lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Joshua Castro, had been replaced by Jason Carter, also a deputy PD with San Bernardino County.
According to his LinkedIn page, Carter has served with the San Bernardino County public defender’s office since August of 2019 after previous stints as a PD in El Dorado and Imperial Counties, starting in 2014.
No information was available on why Castro was replaced, or on whether the replacement is permanent or for Monday’s hearing alone. Castro has not replied to AVN’s two most recent requests for comment on the status of the case.
Castro has served with the San Bernardino PD’s office since 2008.
