Accused Salinas child murderers' trial set for next year.

A date has been set for Tami Huntsman’s and Gonzalo Curiel’s trial, where a jury will decide if the couple murdered two children and tortured a 9-year-old girl nearly death.

While Huntsman and Curiel were not due to appear in court today, Monterey County Assistant District Attorney Steve Somers said defense and prosecution met informally and agreed to waive Huntsman's and Curiel's rights to a preliminary hearing. Somers then requested a hearing to formalize that waiver be placed on today's calendar. 

No notice was given to the public that today's action was taking place.

Instead, their trial is due to commence on Feb. 6. 2017. By that time, Huntsman, who is currently pregnant, will have given birth.

Somers said the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office will reach a decision on whether Huntsman will face the death penalty, and make the decision public on Aug. 17 during a scheduled pre-trial hearing. Curiel is not eligible for the death penalty because he was a minor at the time the children were discovered dead in a storage unit in Redding, California.

The decision for the couple to not have a preliminary hearing brings into question the demands made by Huntsman’s defense team in a writ filed March 17 with California’s Sixth District Court of Appeal.

One of the demands included more time to prepare for a preliminary hearing, in part because Huntsman’s defense attorney Kay Duffy needed to find expert pathologists to testify to the fatal injuries Delylah and Shaun Tara, ages 3 and 7, allegedly suffered at the hands of Huntsman and Curiel.

Now, an appellate court decision is unnecessary since the defense waived its right to a preliminary hearing.

Curiel and Huntsman remain housed in Monterey County Jail without bail.