At a status conference in 24 CCR 239779, State of Texas v. Kelvin Ogobejeli Iton Itonodon, the court confirmed a pretrial date for Oct. 30 and heard that the defense and prosecution are discussing diversion and pretrial intervention possibilities.

Defense attorney Mister Kovac told the court, "I've looked at everything ... We have everything, including the Brady disclosures. ... We're ready to proceed. We've got a pretrial scheduled October 30." He said he hoped to resolve the case and that his client could pursue diversion if certain blood-alcohol conditions were met.

A prosecutor advising the court noted the defendant's BAC "is actually within the range to submit a packet to our office for consideration of the PTI contract since it is below a 0.18," and that if counsel "can get a packet in sometime soon, we can review that." The prosecutor asked that the packet be submitted so the office could evaluate PTI eligibility before the pretrial.

Why it matters: The prosecutor described an internal cap for pretrial intervention (PTI) consideration at a BAC below 0.18; defense counsel said reducing a reported 0.15-level reading could affect diversion eligibility. The court left the pretrial date in place for Oct. 30 and encouraged the parties to exchange information and, if applicable, file a PTI packet.

Discussion versus decision: The court set the pretrial date and recorded the parties' plans; no plea or diversion was formally approved in court.

Next steps: Defense counsel said he would work with his client and hoped to assemble any packet within a few weeks so the prosecutor's office could review it prior to the Oct. 30 pretrial.