Brian Jerome Patton, 38, of Hemet was arrested in December following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation into the death of Denise Maria Christina.

Patton is charged with murder, animal cruelty and a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony.

During a status hearing at the Banning Justice Center Monday, the prosecution and defense agreed to expediting the defendant’s preliminary hearing, prompting Superior Court Judge Jay Kiel to set it for Wednesday. The proceeding will determine whether there’s sufficient evidence to bound Patton over for trial on any or all counts.

He’s being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility.

According to sheriff’s officials, Christina died shortly before 5 p.m. on Dec. 11 at a house in the 25000 block of Minorca Street, near Palm Avenue, just south of the Soboba Indian Reservation.

Sgt. Rafael Victorio said patrol deputies were called to the location to investigate “a suspicious circumstance” and found the victim deceased.

Central Homicide Unit detectives took over the investigation, procuring sufficient evidence for an arrest warrant and taking Patton into custody without incident the following morning.

A possible motive for the alleged attack was not disclosed. It was unclear whether or how long the defendant and victim may have been acquainted, and there was no explanation in documents regarding the animal cruelty allegation.

Court records show Patton has prior convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and carrying a concealed weapon.

The post Prelim Hearing Set for Felon Accused of Killing Woman near Hemet appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

On Saturday, April 6, at 10:00 a.m., members of the Hemet Sheriff’s Station and agents of the California Alcoholic Beverage Control (see: https://www.abc.ca.gov) conducted a minor decoy operation. This involves the use of minors under the age of 21 years with direct supervision of deputies and ABC Agents. During the operation, the minors attempted to purchase alcohol from eleven retail licensees in the unincorporated area of Riverside County known as Valle Vista.

All of the eleven business were found to be in compliance.

Multiple stations from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department received an ABC Alcohol Policing Partnership grant (see: https://www.abc.ca.gov/programs/grant.html). Funds from this grant are used to help fight alcohol related crimes and to educate ABC licensed businesses. The goal of the ABC APP program is to partner with local law enforcement agencies to help make communities safer.

ABC in conjunction with the Riverside Sheriff’s Department is conducting the compliance checks statewide to reduce the availability of alcohol to minors. Minor decoy operations are a tool of law enforcement that are used to ensure that licensees are complying with the law. Operations will continue within the jurisdiction of the Jurupa Valley station.

Anyone with information relevant to this operation is encouraged to call Deputy Soto at the Hemet Sheriff’s Station, (951) 791-3400.

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