Pleas Delayed Again for Men Accused of Homicide

The plea hearing set for today for the two men accused of was delayed once again. 

Nicholas Vargas, 24, of San Bruno has continued to have problems securing a lawyer, so a San Mateo County Superior Court judge gave Vargas and Brandon Thompson, the other man implicated in Chastain’s murder, another week to enter a plea. 

In addition, the judge today also signed subpoenas from the San Mateo County District Attorney’s office requesting records from several cell phone companies from the night of the slaying. An attorney from the district attorney’s office said prosecutors are looking into information from nearby cell phone towers to determine where the suspects might have been located on that night. 

Vargas and Thompson, 26, of San Mateo, have been charged with killing Chastain on April 10 after a late-night argument at Vargas’s parent’s house on Cypress Avenue went horribly wrong. 

After putting a piece of plastic over Chastain’s face, striking him with a pipe wrench and stabbing him, the two assailants reportedly dragged Chastain outside of the house and tried to put him in the trunk of Vargas’s car, which was parked in the driveway. But Chastain’s 6-foot-5 frame was too heavy for them, so they left him on the ground, according to the district attorney’s office. Both men were later arrested. 

The two men, who appeared in court today shackled and in red jumpsuits, will remain in San Mateo County Jail without bail. 

They are expected back in court on May 10 to enter their pleas.