A former Brandon Township man will not stand trial for murder until next year.
On Oct. 17, the pre-trial for Charles Patrick Leppan, 42, was continued to Jan. 16, 2015 and a jury trial date of Nov. 3 was vacated by Judge Rodney Cortez at the San Bernardino Superior Court in California.
‘This is standard on a lot of these murder cases as the defense attorney usually has a ton of other cases to devote his or her time to,? said San Bernardino District Attorney John Thomas. ‘I wasn’t at the last court appearance so I don’t know exactly why it was continued, but am venturing to guess that the defense attorney still needs more time to prepare for trial.?
Leppan was arrested Oct. 13, 2013 in the front yard of his mobile home located in the 3800 block of Cherry in the township, for the murder of his ex-wife, Jean Lizette Farrias Leppan, 33.
The murder is believed to have taken place around Jan. 26, 2004 in the home Charles Leppan shared with Jean, his ex-wife, in Yucca Valley, Calif. The actual date of the murder is difficult to determine because Charles Leppan never reported his ex-wife missing, nor did anyone else.
On May 12, 2004, a man was walking his dog along Ironage Road in a desert area when he discovered a human skull in a shallow grave, just 22 miles east of where Leppan was stationed as a U.S. Marine Corps sergeant at Twentynine Palms. On May 24, a newspaper article reported the found body and its location in the desert. At this time, four months after his ex-wife disappeared, Charles Leppan told police Jean Leppan was missing. A few days later, on May 27, 2004, dental records confirmed the skeletal remains of the adult female with traumatic injuries were those of Jean Leppan. The coroner ruled the death a homicide, although investigators can’t disclose what means were used to cause her death.
In initial interviews with police, Leppan said his ex-wife was trying to reconcile with him, while he was trying to kick her out of the home. The couple originally met in Virginia, while Leppan was stationed there. Their marriage lasted only about two or three years and was turbulent. Domestic violence charges were filed in Virginia, and their troubles continued in California. San Bernardino Court records show Leppan filed a domestic violence petition against Jean on April 18, 2002. The case was dismissed and he was ordered to return personal items to Jean, including photos, through a third party. Charles Patrick Leppan filed for divorce on Dec. 18, 2002 and the marriage was dissolved on June 19, 2003. The couple had one child together, a daughter who was 3-years-old at the time of her mother’s death.
The case went cold with a lack of evidence and witnesses, but was reopened in early 2013 by a cold case team consisting of Detectives Ryan Ford and Jerry Davenport of the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department in California, and San Bernardino Deputy District Attorneys John Thomas and Denise Yoakam. The team is funded in part through a $500,000 U.S. Department of Justice grant called ‘Solving Cold Cases with DNA,? which allows funds to only be used in cases where there is a strong likelihood of locating DNA profiles. Ford noted that DNA testing has come a long way since 2004. Additionally, reinterviews of potential witnesses has gleaned new information in the case.
Eight months after reopening the case, Thomas was the one who made the determination enough evidence, both old and new, had been gathered to determine Charles Patrick Leppan had committed the murder of Jean Leppan beyond a reasonable doubt. Thomas was accompanied by Ford, Davenport, and Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bill Baldwin and Deputy Craig Rathbun of the Independence Township substation to make the arrest of Leppan in Brandon Township just over a year ago. Leppan was then extradited to California and remains in jail after pleading not guilty to felony murder.