Judge: Dad can stand trial in bound children case
LAWRENCE, Kan. — A Northlake man is competent to stand trial on abuse charges after two of his children were found bound and blindfolded in a Walmart parking lot in Kansas, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Aldolfo Gomez, 52, and his wife, Deborah, were charged after their 5- and 7-year-old children were found bound on June 13 in Lawrence. Three other children ages 12, 13 and 15 were inside the family’s vehicle but not restrained. All of the children are now in protective custody.
District Judge Paula Martin ruled during Tuesday’s brief hearing that Gomez could stand trial on multiple counts of child abuse and aggravated child endangerment. Gomez also dropped a request during the hearing to represent himself.
He and his wife remain jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail each in Douglas County. Both face two counts of child abuse and five counts of aggravated child endangerment.
Police have said the family, formerly of Naperville, was traveling from Illinois to see a family member in Arizona when their SUV broke down on Interstate 70, causing the couple and their five children to stop in Lawrence for two days before a Wal-Mart customer called police. The woman said she saw one of the bound children outside the vehicle in the store’s parking lot.
During Tuesday’s brief hearing, Adolfo Gomez told the judge that he and attorney Elbridge Griffy had reconciled, The Lawrence Journal-World reported. Gomez had requested the lawyer’s removal last week, saying he objected on religious grounds to Griffy’s use of a curse word the first time they met.
Griffy told the judge that an evaluator at a local mental health center concluded Gomez was competent to assist in his defense. The lawyer said he would begin reviewing the case to determine a defense strategy. He said Gomez had asked him not to publicly discuss details of the case, but the attorney acknowledged the case could present challenges because it has received national media attention.
“Sometimes public opinion has a bearing and does affect the courts,” Griffy said.
Deborah Gomez was shopping inside the Wal-Mart when her husband was arrested in the parking lot. A lawyer for Deborah Gomez said at a hearing last week that the mother was unaware the two younger children were bound near the family’s vehicle.