Ashlee Buzzard, the Vandenberg Village woman accused of murdering her 9-year-old daughter, Melodee, did not appear for her scheduled preliminary hearing setting on Wednesday morning in Lompoc. Wednesday marks the second preliminary hearing setting that Buzzard has missed, with the first occurring on February 11; both times, she filed a refusal to go to court due to illness.
Jordan Lockey, the prosecution’s lead attorney, requested that Judge Stephen Dunkle, the presiding judge, make an extraction order, which would require Buzzard to appear in court. Lockey said she found it hard to believe that illness is “an earnest representation of what’s actually going on.”
Buzzard’s public defender, Erica Sutherland, said that Buzzard had ongoing medical needs and asked Judge Dunkle not to order her extraction.