TYLER, Texas — The jury trial for a man accused of murdering a Smith County child has been pushed back to July 2019.
According to Smith County judicial records, Gustavo Zavala-Garcia, 26, has had his capital murder trial delayed until 9 a.m. on July 15, 2019, in the 241st District Court of Judge Jack Skeen.
A pre-trial hearing was originally scheduled for Wednesday. However, it was canceled. The next hearing is set for March 7.
Jury selection is now slated to take place on June 6 and June 10.
Zavala-Garcia is accused of killing Kayla Gomez-Orozco, 10, in November 2016. He was related to her by marriage and was among the last people to see her before she went missing on November 1, 2016, from the foyer of Bullard First Assembly on U.S. Highway 69.
Her body was found four days later in a well on the property where Zavala-Garcia lived, in the 22100 block of Farm-to-Market Road 2493 in Bullard.
In the indictment, prosecutors contend Zavala-Garcia attacked Gomez-Orozco and sexually assaulted or attempted to sexually assault her after she was kidnapping.
Prosecutors also say Zavala-Garcia struck Gomez-Orozco with and against a blunt object, choked and drowned her.
