Four trial dates have been set and canceled in the federal case against a Killeen woman who is accused of helping to cover up the alleged murder of a Fort Hood soldier in 2020. No new trial dates have been set since the cancellation of the last trial date of March 8, 2021, but there has been no shortage of court activity in Cecily Aguilar’s case over the past 22 months.
Since the U.S. filed its initial complaint against Aguilar on July 2, 2020, 122 court filings have been made. A variety of hearings also have been held over the past few years, including a detention hearing, preliminary hearing and motion hearings, according to federal court records.
Aguilar, 23, has been held without bond in the McLennan County Jail since her arrest nearly two years ago. She is facing 11 criminal counts after police said she helped her boyfriend, 20-year-old Army Spc. Aaron Robinson, dispose of the body of Vanessa Guillen. He allegedly killed Guillen with a hammer on April 22, 2020. Police said that Aguilar also repeatedly lied during their investigation.
Months after Guillen, 20, was reported missing on April 23, 2020, her remains were discovered on June 30, 2020, by contractors working along the Leon River near Belton. On July 1, 2020, Robinson died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after he was confronted by Killeen police.
Is there more evidence?
Most recently, on May 13, the U.S. filed a response to a motion to compel discovery that was filed by Aguilar’s defense attorneys in March. Also on May 13, her defense attorneys filed a reply to the government’s response in which it essentially agreed with the government.
On March 8, Federal Public Defender Lewis Berray Gainor filed a motion to compel prosecutors to release to him any video or audio recordings of several trips to the Bell County site where the soldier’s remains were found.
The U.S. filed a response on Friday, indicating that the defense motion for discovery is “moot.”
“On June 16, 2021, a motion to suppress hearing was held before the Hon. Alan Albright. Before the hearing, the U.S. provided the Court with a disc containing recorded statements made by (Aguilar) that were the subject to the suppression hearing. The nighttime walk-through videos at the Leon River site requested by the Defendant in her motion to compel discovery were included on that disc,” according to the government’s motion on May 13.
Gainor, in his reply on May 13, indicated that discovery has been “mishandled,” but that the team did receive the requested evidence on April 22: “Counsel for Ms. Aguilar attempted to meet and confer with the Government in order to file a joint notice and proposed order denying the motion to compel as moot. Counsel hoped to spare the Court unnecessary detail about the Government’s apparent mishandling of discovery in this case. The Government declined and filed a response on May 13. Defense counsel is disappointed that their offer to resolve this jointly was not accepted.”
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