Pretrial of crash suspect extended

Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Marc Kellams Tuesday extended the pretrial phase in the case against the man accused of causing and fleeing from the accident which killed IU student Ashley Crouse in April. \nWhen neither Meliton Espinoza Praxedis' defense attorney David Collins nor Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Kehr introduced any pretrial motions, Kellams set a new pretrial hearing for Aug. 9 at 2:30 p.m.\nBoth Collins and Kellams communicated to Praxedis through a Spanish interpreter. When Collins asked whether he understood that the pretrial phase has been lengthened, Praxedis nodded in acknowledgement.\nPraxedis, who the trial schedule listed as his alias, Alberto DeJesus, allegedly crashed the Honda station wagon he was driving into a red Jeep with Crouse, junior Christopher Carlson and senior Julie Greenbaum at Hawthorne and Third Streets April 11, according to police reports. Crouse was thrown from the vehicle and later pronounced dead at Bloomington Hospital.\nPraxedis allegedly fled the scene of the accident and boarded a bus to Delaware. U.S. Marshals arrested him three days later in Delaware on charges of fleeing the scene of an accident, a class C felony. Praxedis faces between two and eight years in jail.