Man Alleged to Have Killed Saratoga Farmer 'Charlie' Maridon to Stand Trial

The man accused of severely beating the late Saratoga farmer Charles "Charlie" Maridon inside his remote Wardell Road home the evening of Dec. 3, 2009 appeared in Santa Clara County Superior Court last week for a preliminary hearing on the case.

Juan Cortinas, 35, has been charged with felony murder with robbery and burglary special circumstances in the death of the 96-year-old Maridon, who along with daughter Carol, 67, were victims of the home invasion crime more than three years ago, according to Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney David Boyd.

Cortinas also faces two felony robbery in-the-first-degree counts for the alleged attacks on both father and daughter. Charles Maridon died from the injuries Dec. 18, 2009.

Boyd, who's filling in for prosecutor Angela Bernhard, explained Cortinas was "held to answer" during the three-day hearing last week, meaning a judge determined during the evidentiary proceedings that there was probable cause to believe Cortinas committed the offenses. A trial date has not yet been set.

Cortinas will be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. April 2 in Department 24 of the San Jose Hall of Justice.

Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies arrested Cortinas in September of 2011.

Prosecutors say he worked with Sonny Lopez, of San Jose, who was the first suspect in the Maridon fatal home invasion robbery and who was killed by Fremont police officers March 7, 2010, in Cupertino. The former handyman for the Maridons, Paul Lopez, is Sonny Lopez' father.

Sheriff's detectives linked Cortinas to the crime through text messages they uncovered between both suspects and cellphone tracking data.

Boyd said Cortinas and Lopez worked together at Champion Plumbing and they committed the crime together, breaking into the home, demanding access to a safe with valuables and then bludgeoning the elder Maridon and severely injuring his daughter, both unable to call police for help after they left.

Cortinas is being represented by Santa Clara County Deputy Public Defender Barney Berkowitz. Calls and emails to Berkowitz seeking comment weren't immediately returned by the time of this posting.

"Mr. Maridon was severely beaten with hands and fists and a flashlight about the head and face and as a 96-year-old man, there is only so much he could take. He died of complications from blunt force trauma to the head," Boyd said.

Carol Maridon suffered bruising about the face, neck and broken ribs, Boyd added.

Paul Lopez, who was doing work around the hilltop and remote property at 21085 Wardell Road in the Saratoga hills, found the father and daughter the next morning severely beaten and needing emergency medical care.

Cortinas is in custody and has a criminal record. He's been accused of battering a peace officer at the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas in February of 2011 and is serving two prison sentences in unrelated matters after being convicted of second-degree burglary, grand theft, reckless driving while fleeing or eluding peace officers and forgery, according to court records.