Another delay in fatal Bureau County hit and run

If you’ve been following the story of a Mendota teenage girl being hit and killed while walking on a rural Bureau County road, the man blamed in the hit and run was in court yesterday.

Twenty-year-old Jose Torres of Oglesby was supposed to have a final pretrial hearing in Bureau County Court yesterday but his lawyer asked for and received a week delay on the hearing. Torres’ trial date is set for August 22nd.

Torres is charged with the felonies of failing to report an accident involving a death and failing to report an accident involving an injury. He’s accused of hitting and killing 19-year-old Jacquelin Martinez of Mendota last August while she and others were walking on a rural road near Bureau. Everyone but Martinez survived.

Torres also faces a lesser charge of fraud in La Salle County where he’s accused of trying to prevent a repo man from taking his Jaguar that investigators say was the car involved in the fatal hit and run.