Medical concerns related to her pregnancy prevented Giselle Esteban from coming to court Wednesday on a charge that she murdered nursing student Michelle Le.
Alameda County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. J.D. Nelson said Esteban, a 27-year-old Union City woman, didn't have to be hospitalized and isn't having a medical emergency but a doctor decided she wasn't well enough to be bused from the county jail in Dublin to the Hayward courthouse.
Defense attorney Andrea Auer told Superior Court Judge Gary Picetti at a brief hearing that she will be representing Esteban.
Esteban is scheduled to return to court on Oct. 24 to enter a plea.
Auer said that at that time, she will ask that Esteban, who is currently being held without bail, be granted bail.
Le, 26, disappeared from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Hayward on May 27. Her body was found on Sept. 17.
Esteban, who went to high school with Le in San Diego, was arrested on Sept. 7 and charged with murdering Le, even though Le's body hadn't yet been found at that point.
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Authorities said footage from security cameras at the parking garage at Kaiser Permanente in Hayward, where Le was doing a rotation, showed that Esteban was present around the time of Le's disappearance, and evidence found inside Le's car indicated that Esteban had been in the vehicle.
In addition, DNA evidence and cellphone records tied Esteban to Le's death, authorities said.
