Sibley, Iowa — One of the defendants in the case of four people charged with robbery in Osceola County requested a new lawyer. That request has been denied by District Court Judge Carl Petersen.
Court records indicate the four are accused of the armed robbery of an occupied home on Third Avenue in Sibley.
On August 21st, 2016, Osceola County Deputies arrested 35-year-old Jose Manuel Maldonado Castillo and 25-year-old Peter Nazario Alvira of Sibley and two others from Sioux City. They were all charged with Robbery of in the 1st Degree, three counts each of Burglary in the 1st Degree, all class B felonies; Going Armed With Intent, a class D felony; and Assault While Participating in a Felony.
Maldonado Castillo’s trial was to have started on December 20th. Court records indicate that he and Nazario Alvira had accepted plea bargains and were instead to have been sentenced on Friday, December 9th. However, the Osceola County Clerk of Court’s office says that neither entered a plea on that day, and no sentences were issued.
At a hearing on Thursday, December 22nd, Judge Petersen overruled Maldonado Castillo’s motion for new counsel and instead scheduled a pre-trial conference for Friday, January 6th. Nazario Alvira is scheduled to be sentenced that same day.
