Plea hearing set for morning in Cabrera murder case

A plea offer in the murder case against Carbondale restaurateur Fredy Cabrera is apparently back on the table for a Friday morning hearing in Garfield District Court.

According to both 9th District Attorney Sherry Caloia and one of Cabrera’s defense attorneys, Kathy Goudy, a plea hearing has been scheduled for 8 a.m. Friday before District Judge Denise Lynch in Glenwood Springs.

Earlier this week, Cabrera rejected a plea offer from the District Attorney’s Office to drop the charge of first-degree murder for which he is scheduled to face trial in late September in favor of a second-degree murder plea in the fatal shooting last summer of his stepdaughter’s boyfriend, Douglas Menjivar.

That deal would have stipulated a sentence of between 16 and 48 years in prison. A first-degree assault charge stemming from injuries sustained during the shooting by Cabrera’s stepdaughter, Leydy Trejo, was also to be dropped. Terms of the new plea deal were not released.

Cabrera, 40, at a court hearing Tuesday, indicated to Lynch that he was willing to take the plea before changing his mind at the last minute and deciding to proceed to trial on the first-degree charge.

Cabrera was allegedly upset that Trejo, still 18 and in high school at the time, was in a relationship with Menjivar, 21, who had worked for Cabrera at his El Horizonte restaurant and the family copy business in Carbondale.

The night of July 31, 2013, Cabrera allegedly waited with a gun outside the apartment south of Glenwood Springs where Trejo had moved in with Menjivar and was waiting for them to return when the shooting occurred.

Menjivar died en route to the hospital from multiple gunshot wounds. Trejo was shot in the leg during the incident, resulting in a shattered tibia, and was in the hospital for several days.

Cabrera has been in the Garfield County Jail without bond since his arrest in Grand Junction the day after the shooting.