CALIFORNIA/NEVADA
Manteca Bulletin
By Jason Campbell
Reporter jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com 209-249-3544
POSTED July 3, 2014
The fate of Rob Cox now rests in the hands of the Clark County Grand Jury.
On Wednesday the Las Vegas prosecutor dropped the murder case against the Manteca youth pastor in a technical move that essentially transfers the case from the open courtroom to a sealed, closed session – leaving the decision on whether to move forward with formal charges of murder up to 17 members who could decide as early as Tuesday whether they’ll indict Cox.
A motion by Cox’s attorneys to return the $100,000 cash bail amount that was posted in order to release him from San Joaquin County Jail on the condition that he appear in a Las Vegas courtroom was granted Wednesday afternoon. One of his attorneys, Frank Cofer, said that he would now be heading home.
“Right now he’s getting ready to await the grand jury’s decision,” said Cofer – a partner in the firm of Cofer, Geller and Durham. “We’re confident that he’ll be exonerated of any criminal wrongdoing.”
Cox was arrested last month at The Place of Refuge – where he is an associate pastor that works closely with the youth in the church – on a Clark County murder warrant.
He spent almost a week in the San Joaquin County Jail and was originally set to be extradited to Nevada to answer the charges. Prosecutors allege that Cox punched 55-year-old Link Ellingson in the face after the 6-foot, 8-inch man charged the 18-member group that Cox had been traveling with from Texas back to California – knocking the man to the ground.
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