A preliminary hearing was set yesterday for a Santa Cruz man convicted of 2nd degree murder and accused of assaulting another inmate in Santa Cruz County Jail. Leopoldo Alejandro Cortes has been ordered to appear on January 13th along with co-defendant James Alexander Oehler. Both men are charged with assault with a deadly weapon and battery after allegedly punching and kicking inmate Salvador Robert Escalante on December 10th. Cortes was convicted last month of 2nd degree murder in a 2006 stabbing at a La Selva Beach Party. He faces 16-years to life in prison when he is sentenced on January 17th, and could face another 16 years if he is convicted on the assault charge. Oehler, who faces a murder charge in the shooting of a man on Branciforte Creek in 2010, also faces life in prison if convicted of the murder charge, and up to 7 years if convicted on the assault charge.
