Trial reset for man facing child sex and abuse charges
LAS VEGAS (AP) - A man facing felony child sex and abuse charges in Nevada and a separate murder charge in Illinois, where the body of his 6-year-old daughter was found, won't see a trial until next year after a judge granted his court-appointed lawyer more time to prepare.
Jason Scott Quate's trial had been due to start Monday in Las Vegas.
Prosecutor James Sweetin said Friday that Quate will be tried first in Las Vegas on charges also including incest and lewdness with a child before facing the murder charge in St. Clair County, Illinois.
Quate, 35, could face hundreds of years in prison if convicted of the 44 felony charges against him in Nevada.
The case came to light after Quate's wife, Elizabeth Odell-Quate, went to a Las Vegas domestic violence shelter in June 2017. She told police her husband had forced her into prostitution, killed their youngest daughter and was abusing their two other daughters, ages 12 and 13.
Authorities in Centreville, Illinois, found daughter Alysha's decomposed body in the garage of a vacant home and determined that she died in 2014 from a head injury.
Elizabeth Quate, 36, is jailed in St. Clair County, where her trial on a felony charge of concealing a homicidal death had also been scheduled to begin Monday. It was canceled pending a guilty plea Dec. 10, according to court records. She also faces a probation violation in a forgery case.
Authorities say the couple moved in 2016 with their two surviving daughters from Bellville to Las Vegas.
The girls were taken into protective custody after police said they were found at an apartment showing signs of neglect.