Felix Verdejo will remain in prison while legal teams surrounding his current trial determine whether to proceed as a capital punishment case.

A status conference hearing held virtually Friday morning heard updates from the United States Attorney’s Office and the respective defense teams for Verdejo and alleged accomplice Luis Antonio Cádiz-Martinez. Both sides agreed that more time was needed in order to provide the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico (USDCPR) with sufficient updates, including that of the final decision to have the death penalty on the table for the charges levied against Verdejo.

District Court Judge Pedro A. Delgado-Hernandez set the next court hearing for September 27th at 9:30 a.m. local time. Verdejo will remain remanded in federal prison in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Verdejo—a 2012 Olympian for Puerto Rico and former lightweight contender—faces federal charges of carjacking resulting in death, kidnapping resulting in death and killing of an unborn child in the abduction and murder of Keishla Marlen Rodriguez, with whom he had a years-long love affair.

A guilty verdict for any of the three charges will carry the maximum punishment of the death penalty, should the Justice Department choose to pursue. That decision will be made once both sides are able to review evidence. Verdejo also faces one charge of discharging a firearm during and in relation to a violent crime. The offense carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, though only in conjunction with a guilty verdict returned in any of the aforementioned charges.

“The government made available the first batch discovery, USB consisting of 21GB of data. Defense counsel will arrange for items to be picked up next week,” Jonathan Gottfried, lead prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney informed the court on Friday via Zoom conference call, to which select media members—including BoxingScene.com—were granted audio-only access. “We have been in touch with defense counsel about logistics such as UBS drives and will go into details with the court. We are working out logistics of discovery and are in the process of providing discovery at this stage. It’s still in the very initially stages.”

Verdejo is represented by defense attorneys Laura Maldonado and Jose Irizarry and capital punishment expert David Ruhnke, all three of whom were present for Friday’s hearing. Cadiz-Martinez was represented by capital punishment expert Gary Proctor, while lead attorney Jose Aguayo was unavailable to due to a change of plea status hearing in a separate and unrelated case.

Both defendants have entered separate pleas of not guilty to all charges.

Both legal teams agreed to a 90-day period to finalize evidence, with Verdejo’s legal team requesting updates on the capital punishment aspect of the case.

“One thing we would like to request from United States Attorney is if they pursue an expedited decision—which has to be authorization for recommendation against the death penalty—that we are advised of that as soon as possible,” noted Ruhnke. “We are assembling a defense team, proceeding [for the moment] assuming it is a capital punishment case.”

A change in status would limit the maximum sentence—if found guilty—to 99 years in prison, since Puerto Rico does not have the death penalty for cases not charged under federal law.  

Verdejo has remained in prison since May 2, when he surrendered to authorities following a three-day search for Rodriguez who was first reported missing by family members on April 29. A rescue mission was changed to a recovery mission once preliminary evidence suggested she was no longer alive. Those fears were realized on May 1, when she was pulled from Laguna San Jose in Carolina, Puerto Rico.

A detailed investigation report—aided by what reports indicate as a cooperating witness with first-hand knowledge of the case—revealed that Verdejo and Cádiz-Martinez both intentionally killed Rodriguez and “committed the offense in an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner in that it involved serious physical abuse to the victim.”

A shrine remains in place along the bridge in memory of Rodriguez.

Verdejo (27-2, 17KOs) has not fought since a ninth-round knockout loss to Japan’s Masayoshi Nakatani (19-1, 13KOs) last December 12 at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas. A win would have placed the 28-year-old Puerto Rican boxer on a path to next face lineal lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez (16-0, 12KOs). He was well on his way to victory, twice flooring Nakatani before suffering two knockdowns in the fateful ninth round of their 2020 Fight of the Year entrant.

Verdejo still remains under contract with Top Rank, though all have been removed between the boxer and the Las Vegas-based promotional outfit.

Nakatani fights for the first time since his win over Verdejo. The 5’11 ½” lightweight contender returns to the ring this weekend in a scheduled 12-round lightweight contest versus former three-division titlist Vasiliy Lomachenko, who ousted Verdejo from competition during the 2012 London Olympics.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox