WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - The trial of a man charged with strangling a Massachusetts teacher’s aide has been scheduled.
The Telegram & Gazette reports that a Superior Court judge scheduled jury selection on Jose Melendez’s murder trial to start Sept. 5. He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Sandra Hehir.
Hehir worked as an instructional assistant in the Worcester school system. The 49-year-old woman was found dead in her apartment in February 2017.
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Police say DNA from the scene matched DNA from an unsolved rape case from 2000 in which Melendez was a suspect.
Melendez, who also is known by the names Segura and Alvarado, faces possible deportation.
He has denied any knowledge of Hehir’s death.
A spokesman for the district attorney says there’s uncertainty over Melendez’s true identity.
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Information from: Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Mass.), http://www.telegram.com
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