Man accused of attempted murder back in jail one week before trial

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St., is pictured Sept. 15, 2018.

A Lawrence man has been arrested on months-old firearm and drug charges a week before he was set to stand trial for attempted murder.

Around 6:40 p.m. Friday, Alejandro Martinez-Diaz, 19, was arrested on a warrant for charges going back to October 2021, according to the Douglas County sheriff’s booking log.

As previously reported by the Journal-World, Martinez-Diaz was arrested on Oct. 1, 2021, on suspicion of possession of a firearm. He was released later that day on a $2,000 bond, according to the booking log. Charges for the arrest were not filed at that time, according to court records.

Martinez-Diaz was out on a $75,000 bond at that time for an attempted murder charge from May 2021.

The new case, filed on Friday, charges Martinez-Diaz with intent to distribute a depressant, Alprazolam, an alternative brand of Xanax, intent to distribute a hallucinogenic drug and possession of a firearm. The two drug charges are level 3 drug felonies, and the firearm charge is a level 8 nonperson felony, according to charging documents from the court.

The charging documents state that the drug charges happened between Sept. 7, 2021, and Oct. 1, 2021, and the gun charge occurred on or about Aug. 30, 2021.

The Journal-World reached out to the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office for more information about the charges and the order of events, but the office declined to comment on an active case.

The arrest comes one week before Martinez-Diaz is scheduled for a jury trial in a case where he faces an attempted first-degree murder charge for allegedly shooting Caylee Nehrbass in the head and neck after chasing her and her boyfriend, Javier Romero, through North Lawrence.

A codefendant in the same shooting, Ontareo X. Jackson, pleaded no contest to a second-degree attempted murder charge on Feb. 25.

Martinez-Diaz is being held in the Douglas County Jail with a bond set at $250,000 for the new charges.