A judge ruled Nickey Stane can now face a Fresno County jury for all 12 of the charges against him, including the sexual assaults prosecutors say happened in Tulare County.
"The bottom line is, the people still have to prove that Mr. Stane is responsible for Ms. Dorian's death," Judge Arlan Harrell said.
Police arrested Stane in the South Valley in 2019 after they said DNA connected him to several Visalia sexual assaults from the 1990s and 2000s.
Within days of his arrest, Fresno investigators said Stane was also a suspect in the death of Debbie Dorian that rocked the city in August 1996.
Dorian was 22 years old and a recent Fresno State graduate.
Her father found her bound and gagged in her Northeast Fresno apartment, and investigators say they have DNA connecting that crime scene to the Visalia assaults.
Prosecutors filed the Fresno County and Tulare County charges together.
They say the string of South Valley assaults shows a pattern of behavior that could help prove Stane raped and killed Dorian.
Defense attorney Jane Boulger has been arguing for two different cases with two different trials.
"I'm very concerned that the emotion of the cases, blended together, are going to be what stops Mr. Stane from getting a fair trial," Boulger said.
The judge ultimately disagreed.
Just moments after his ruling, a surprising scene as Stane showed a notepad to Boulger and asked the judge to remove both of his attorneys from the case.
"Counsel and ladies and gentlemen, I need to have a closed hearing," the judge said. "I'm going to ask you to please step out for a moment."
After a closed-door hearing, the judge said the attorneys would stay.
His rulings come nearly a year after a different judge already said there is enough evidence for a jury to decide Stane's fate. It is unclear when Stane that will happen, but jurors will now decide on all 12 charges.
"It is not in the interest of justice, and there is no good cause for the joinder to be severed," the judge said.
Stane has repeatedly pleaded not guilty and denied all of the charges against him, despite a recorded jailhouse call in which prosecutors say Stane admitted guilt to his mom.
The Fresno County District Attorney's Office is now seeking the death penalty.
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