There were several major prosecutions with Santa Clarita Valley ties in court this week.

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A woman accused of killing her mother, two men accused in a series of robberies and a stabbing and a woman accused of a fatal DUI all had hearing in Los Angeles County Superior Courthouses. 

Two suspects in a pair of robberies

Abraham Bautista and Josh Right had a preliminary hearing Thursday, and were held to answer to two robbery charges Thursday.

The two men were taken into custody Oct. 23 for three robberies committed during a several-hour crime spree in Newhall and Valencia on Oct. 15.

Related article: Santa Clarita Stabbing, Robbery Suspects Nabbed By Detectives

Bautista and Right, both of Palmdale, were arrested by Palmdale Sheriff’s Station deputies following an investigation by Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station detectives.

There were three incidents reported on the 27000 block of Avenue Hopkins, in the industrial area Valencia; and two incidents on the 24000 block of La Glorita Circle, a residential area in Newhall — an armed robbery and an attempted armed robbery.

In the first incident, the pair allegedly held a knife to a woman in her 60s, demanded her purse.

The suspects are then believed to have attempted a robbery of two teenagers walking down the street in Valencia.

The teenagers apparently were able to flee without getting hurt or losing any property, and then reported the crime to Sheriff’s Station deputies.

In another incident, the suspects then robbed two other teenagers at knife point.

The suspects took both of their cellphones and other items, such as a wallet.

In the last two robberies, no one was hurt.

Bautista is being held in Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic in lieu of $120,000 bail. Right is being held in lieu of $195,000 bail.

Shiraz Khalid is the deputy district attorney in charge of prosecution.

A woman accused in the shooting death of her mother

A little less than a year after a former Hart district special education assistant was found shot to death in her own home, Laura Purviance was ordered to stand trial for her mother’s murder.

Related article:Former Saugus High Student To Stand Trial For Mother’s Murder

This week, she had a bail review hearing, and is now being held without bail in a case that could be eligible for the death penalty.

Purviance, 25, who briefly attended Saugus High, has been in custody since Feb. 22, 2013, when she was arrested after her mother, Caroline Purviance, was murdered.

Purviance was later found and arrested by Oregon State Police officers in Medford, Ore.

Caroline Purviance worked for the William S. Hart Union High School District from March 1999 to January 2004.

She was hired at Valencia High School as an instructional assistant.

She also worked at Saugus and Canyon high schools in the same capacity during her time with the district.

Laura Purviance was being held in lieu of $2 million bail.

Prosecutors asked that her bail be raised because her case includes two special circumstances.

Officials from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office have not yet decided whether they will pursue the death penalty in this case.

A woman accused in alleged fatal DUI crash

Suzette L. Crockett, 46, of Stevenson Ranch, was booked Aug. 11 on a charge of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for a crash.

Related article: Stevenson Ranch Woman Charged In Fatal Crash Due Back Next Year

Crockett stands accused in the Aug. 11 crash that killed Johnny Sanchez, 58, of Lake View Terrace.

Crockett allegedly was driving a 2007 Matrix north on The Old Road, near Sagecrest Circle, approaching a green light in the left-turn area, according to a California Highway Patrol report.

Sanchez was driving southbound in a 2005 Suzuki motorcycle on The Old Road, where Crockett allegedly failed to yield to Sanchez, according to a CHP collision report.

“She made a left-hand turn directly in front of the motorcycle, and the motorcycle  broadsided her,” said Officer Glauser of the California Highway Patrol, who investigated the scene.

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