Mercedes Carrera Sex Abuse Trial on Hold Until 2021

LOS ANGELES—Mercedes Carrera and her husband Daemon Cins were arrested on February 1 of last year on multiple charges of sex abuse against a child under 10 years old. The pair have been in custody ever since, and if they go to trial on the charges, it will likely not happen until more than two years after their initial bust, following the latest delay in their court proceedings Thursday.  According to documents posted online by San Bernardino County Superior Court August 20, neither Carrera nor Cins were transported from their jail cells to appear at Thursday’s scheduled pre-trial hearing, which itself had been postponed from July 22. The new postponement of the pre-trial hearing, granted by Superior Court Judge Cara D. Hutson, was the eighth consecutive delay. Judge Katrina West remains listed as the judge overseeing the Carrera/Cins case.  The pre-trial hearing for the pair is now set for December 17. If, in fact, that hearing takes place, under law a trial must begin within 60 days, meaning that the pair may not face trial on the charges until February 16, 2021. AVN attempted to contact Carrera’s public defender, Joshua Castro, and Cins’ attorney Nicola Fitzgerald, but did not hear back by Thursday afternoon. The charges stem from allegations made by a then-nine-year-old girl, whom Carrera has identified as her daughter. In a dramatic audio recording played in court on August 8, 2019, the girl vividly described acts of sexual abuse against her which she alleged were committed by her mother and Cins during what they referred to as “cuddle sessions.” The girl, identified only as “Jane Doe,” made the allegations in a recorded interview with San Bernardino Sheriff’s Deputy Steven Theis. The 11 charges include one count of  “Sexual Intercourse/Sodomy” with a child under 10, and 10 counts of “Sexual Penetration/Oral Copulation,” also with a child no more than 10 years old, according to online court documents.