Two men arrested on suspicion of killing Patterson resident Robert Ruvalcaba in Modesto last year will appear in court in March for a preliminary examination, a Stanislaus County Superior Court judge decided Monday, Dec. 10.

Both Juan Manuel Tello, 26, of Modesto, and Alexander Hernandez Lopez, 25, of Salida, will both appear in court for the examination at 8:30 a.m. March 6, 2013.

A preliminary examination, similar to a small trial, provides an opportunity for witnesses to give testimony and attorneys to present evidence to determine if a trial is warranted.

Frank Carson, Tello’s attorney, and Robert Forkner, Lopez’s attorney, have been busy poring through tips received on crime stoppers lines. The defense team had asked for one-month delays twice before Monday’s hearing.

Police found Ruvalcaba’s body in an alley between Martin Luther King Boulevard and North Madison Avenue in Modesto shortly after receiving a 7:24 p.m. report about a man down on Dec. 16, 2011. Several people who knew Ruvalcaba have said he was lured to the alley after stopping at a nearby home and was shot several times in the face, but police have given no specific details about the shooting.

Tello and Lopez have been charged with murder and with cultivating hashish or marijuana for sale. Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges in February.

Bail for each man is set at $2 million, and both men are being held at the Stanislaus County Jail, where they have been since their arrests in January.

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