Kleber Cordova Hearing Delayed, Defender Out Sick

The defender for the man accused of drowning his wife in their Western Avenue apartment bathtub has been out since for almost a week, delaying the start of the long-awaited jury selection.

Jessica Moses, the attorney for Kleber Cordova–who admitted to police he had killed his wife in May 2008–has called in sick since Thursday, Jan. 19. The voir dire, or jury examination process, was scheduled to begin Tuesday, Jan. 24. A court official said Moses was expected to return on Wednesday. A tweet from the Morris County Prosecutor's Office, however, said jury selection was now expected to start on Feb. 1.

The case has been tied up in a pre-trial hearing for nearly two years, as attorneys have argued whether Cordova–an Ecuadoran immigrant in the United States illegally, and speaks little to no English–had his Miranda rights violated after he'd confessed to drowning his wife, Eliana Torres, in the bathtub of their Western Avenue apartment on May 8, 2008, after she had admitted to seeing another man. The defense had argued that Cordova's confession to killing his wife should be thrown out because Cordova asked for an attorney during that questioning, a request that was not at that time granted. 

The prosecution had said Cordova's Miranda rights had not been violated and that it was the state's opinion that each statement he made along the way was made voluntarily.