SAN ANTONIO – Three major Bexar County criminal cases are scheduled for court Monday, including two trials set to begin and a status hearing in a capital murder case.
Jury selection is expected to start for Wilmer Vladimir Ruiz Ortega, who is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a security officer.
Ruiz Ortega is accused of shooting Army and Marine veteran Jimmy Friesenhahn outside a West Side bar last summer. Friesenhahn was left paralyzed after the shooting.
Friesenhahn was released from the hospital Saturday after undergoing surgery a few weeks ago, according to his family. The family said he suffered from a blood clot and an infection, one of several medical setbacks and surgeries he has faced since the shooting.
If convicted, Ruiz Ortega faces up to life in prison.
Trial to begin in 2017 Haven for Hope murder
A second trial is also scheduled to begin Monday for Shandrick Buckley, who is charged with murder in the death of a 55-year-old man behind Haven for Hope in 2017.
Buckley was sentenced last month to life in prison for the 2019 murder of his cellmate. If convicted in the 2017 case, he could face a second life sentence.
Status hearing scheduled for death of 63-year-old woman found along park trail
Also scheduled for court Monday is Samuel Charon, who faces a capital murder charge in the death of Stacy Dramiga in 2024.
Dramiga’s body was found along a park trail after her family reported her missing. Investigators determined the 63-year-old died from blunt force and penetrating trauma to the head.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar has said Dramiga was also sexually assaulted and partially burned.
Charon is awaiting competency results. It remains unclear whether the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office will seek the death penalty in the case.
