UPDATE 10 a.m. Sept. 9, 2025 Defense attorney Rebecca Felmly told InMaricopa that the arraignment took place later in the day. Court officials confirmed the same. Hernandez was arraigned as scheduled and the $1 million bond was affirmed.

Felmly did not explain why she and Hernandez were absent when the case was first called.

“Mr. Hernandez was present. He was arraigned; he had a court date set,” said Felmly. She suggested the court may have assumed a public defender was handling the case but said she could not confirm that.

Felmly disputed the original report, calling it moot. However, based on the initial hearing, the reporting remains accurate.

ORIGINAL STORY 11 a.m. Sept. 8, 2025 FLORENCE — Neither defendant Ismael Ortega Hernandez nor his defense attorney appeared this morning for a scheduled arraignment and warrant review in Pinal County Superior Court, prompting a judge to affirm the warrant in the case.

Prosecutor Christina Guerrero Light told the court that Hernandez’s warrant remained active, although Hernandez is in Pinal County custody. The hearing, which had been scheduled as both an arraignment and a warrant review, was briefly recessed while staff confirmed that Hernandez is in custody.

It wasn’t clear why the Maricopa-based criminal defense attorney didn’t appear, nor did sheriff’s deputies bring Hernandez to the court for his hearing date. Contacted by phone after the hearing, defense attorney Rebecca Felmly did not return messages to InMaricopa.

The arraignment was rescheduled, although a date and time were not announced.

This month, a grand jury indicted Hernandez, 35, on a charge of first-degree murder in the 2022 shooting death of his girlfriend, Julieta Marin Amador. Authorities say Hernandez allegedly shot Amador twice in front of her two young children and her 12-year-old sister at a home on Padilla Road near State Route 347 in unincorporated Maricopa, then fled on foot.

For months this summer, the Mexican national was listed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as one of its Most Wanted Fugitives. He was arrested Aug. 6 in Denver, after a DUI stop under a false name. Fingerprints confirmed his identity, and ICE placed a hold to prevent deportation. He was later extradited to Arizona and booked into the Pinal County jail on a $1 million cash bond.

The Pinal County Attorney’s Office described the case as a “complex” multi-agency investigation that spanned state lines and involved federal coordination. Officials also confirmed Hernandez had a history of domestic violence against the victim and was previously ordered to be deported in 2011 following an aggravated felony drug conviction.

At the time of Amador’s killing, investigators said Hernandez was armed and dangerous. ICE later issued a statement after his arrest in Colorado, saying: “He ran. He crossed borders. He thought he’d disappear. This is why ICE exists. This is why borders matter. And this is why every single criminal alien should be on the radar.”