Jerry Moon

A Valencia man who pleaded guilty to a brutal Stevenson Ranch kidnapping and rape will be due back in court March 25, a prosecutor for the case said Thursday.

“The defense attorney needed a little bit more time because he just came in on the case,” said Julie Kramer, deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County. “But he’ll be ready to go on (March 25).”

Judge Lloyd Nash of Department H at Los Angeles Superior Court in San Fernando will then have two option, Kramer said.

“If he grants the motion, then the case goes back through a preliminary hearing,” she said. “If he denies the motion, then he’ll proceed with sentencing on (March 25).”

Moon would still be subject to the terms of his original plea deal, if Nash denies the motion for a new trial.

“The judge is allowing the defendant to make a motion to withdraw his plea, but the defendant wanted to hire a new attorney,” said Julie Kramer, deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County. “(Judge Lloyd Nash) hasn’t ruled on the motion yet.”

In March, Nash will decide whether Moon will have to face the initial terms of the deal that he agreed to when he was due to be sentenced January 30 in Department H.

Moon may still have to face his original plea, which would place him behind bars for nearly four decades, due to California sentencing guidelines that require offenders to serve at least 85 percent of their time for violent crimes.

The judge appointed a bar panel, which is the counsel who is appointed when there is a conflict with the Public Defender’s Office. The reason for the conflict was not given in court.

Moon claimed to not have understood the initial terms of the deal that he agreed to when he was due to be sentenced January 30.

Moon was facing 43 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexual penetration by foreign object by means of force, forcible oral copulation and forcible rape in December. The crime occurred in January 2011.

“(The case) was continued to give the new attorney time to make a new motion,” Kramer said.

Kramer works with the Victim Impact Program unit of the San Fernando courthouse where the case is being tried.