LAKEPORT – A man accused of a November murder will return to court for a preliminary hearing in May.

Ivan Garcia Oliver, 30, charged with the Nov. 20 murder of 67-year-old Michael Dodele, was in court Monday, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff.

The Monday court appearance was to set the preliminary trial date, which Hinchcliff reported will be May 13.

Oliver is accused of stabbing Dodele multiple times in the chest with a knife, as Lake County News has reported. The two men lived at the Western Hills Mobile Home Park in the unincorporated area of Lakeport.

The May court date will follow Oliver's next appearance in federal court in Southern California, where he has been indicted for an illegal dumping case.

Melanie Pierson, an assistant attorney with the US Department of Justice, said Oliver was arraigned in Southern California on the illegal dumping charges on Feb. 15, and will return in April for motions and trial setting.

Pierson said the process in the federal court should be fairly rapid; typically, a trial is scheduled within a month of the trial setting and motions. “It's not a long story, it's a short story,” she said.

Oliver and his half-brother are accused of dumping toxic materials into a San Diego County creek in the spring of 2005, not long after Oliver was released from state prison.

He had spent two years in prison for a 2003 conviction for felony assault with a deadly weapon with force likely to cause great bodily injury. Oliver had stabbed a security guard at a restaurant where he and some friends had attempted to skip out on the bill, as Lake County News has reported.

Pierson said the federal trial and any possible sentencing that might result won't interfere with Oliver's murder trial in Lake County.

“He would complete his proceedings in Lake County before he would be sent anywhere,” she said.

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