SAN DIEGO — A trial date has been set for January in San Diego court to decide who will get custody of Maya Millete's three children, even as the murder trial for her husband, Larry Millete, is scheduled to begin later the same month.
Maya Millete went missing in January 2021. Her body has not been found.
Larry Millete’s parents, Benito and Judith Millete, are battling Maya’s sister, Maricris Drouaillet, for custody of the children, now ages 13, 12 and 6. The guardianship case was filed nearly two years ago.
Attorneys told the judge Larry Millete had been deposed in the case “several months ago” and the children recently were reinterviewed by a deputy district attorney.
The parties were waiting for a forensic psychologist, Dr. Stephen Doyne, to interview the children a second time before he submits a final report to the court in mid-November.
At one point the attorney for Larry’s parents, Bonita Martinez, told the judge she wanted to take depositions of the three children, and possibly call them to the witness stand during the guardianship trial.
Attorneys objected to the deposition of the minor children as traumatic.
The judge ruled depositions would not be taken and ordered Martinez to submit written questions instead to a court-appointed attorney representing the children.
“Given what these children have been through I’m not going to allow you to depose them,” said Judge Olga Alvarez.
Alvarez said she would rule later on any motion to call the children to the witness stand but she was not inclined to allow it.
Martinez told the court she planned to call several witnesses during the guardianship trial, including the paternal grandparents, Maricris and Richard Drouaillet, and Larry’s maternal aunt and uncle.
Alvarez then scheduled a January 5 trial date. The judge noted she wanted the custody case decided before Millete’s murder trial started on January 16.
Martinez told the judge the cases both being set in January might cause a conflict, as she is also Larry Millete’s criminal defense attorney.
That’s when Drouaillet’s attorney, Scott Finkbeiner, suggested there would be no conflict between the two trials because Martinez would soon be stepping down from the criminal case.
Martinez then stood up and told the judge if she was "relieved from the case" it would be for financial reasons because Larry can't afford to pay her.
Earlier this month, Judge Alvarez ordered the Millete family house in Chula Vista to be sold on the open market. Some of that money could end up going to Larry's defense attorney.
Martinez said the paternal grandparents and the three children intend to live in a next-door neighbor’s house after the house on Paseo Los Gatos is sold.
Outside court, a reporter asked Martinez if she was, indeed, planning on stepping down from the murder case.
If there was no money to pay her legal fees, “I will have no choice" but to resign from the case, Martinez said.
And “Larry would have to be found indigent" before a public defender could be assigned to take over the case, Martinez added.
Martinez also suggested another option, a program where county funds could be used to pay her legal fees.
Asked if she was emotionally tied in the case, Martinez responded "No."
"But it’s not all about the money," she added.
The next hearing in the criminal case is set for October 10.
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