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A man accused of murdering a 37-year-old Dublin resident outside his home in 2024 is one step closer to trial after more than two years of delays in the case.Â
Nicholas Paleveda, 40, appeared in court for a preliminary hearing Thursday and was held to answer on the murder charge and an enhancement alleging he committed the crime while lying in wait, which could make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted.
Prosecutors amended the complaint earlier this year to include that enhancement after uncovering additional evidence in the shooting death of 37-year-old Michael Dalipe outside his home at Emerald Park Apartments.
Police say Paleveda traveled from Arizona with the explicit purpose of confronting Dalipe. The two reportedly knew each other through online gaming and social media channels, though authorities have not released further details about their relationship or a possible motive.Â
Paleveda was arrested in Barstow three days after the shooting. He was previously convicted of aggravated assault for threatening his roommate with a gun in Gainesville, Florida, in 2020. He was sentenced to three years of probation, which ended the year before Dalipe’s killing.
New evidence and witness information, including from the victim’s widow, Cynthia Dalipe, has emerged as the once-stalled case returned to court.
Thursday’s preliminary hearing followed a two-year legal battle over Paleveda’s mental competency. In September 2024, weeks after his Aug. 27, 2024, arrest, Paleveda was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial. That determination was made at an initial hearing that he refused to attend. He had previously waived his right to an initial arraignment.Â
Over the last two years, Paleveda and his defense team have filed two habeas corpus petitions and an appeal of a court order issued last year allowing Paleveda to be forcibly medicated with antipsychotic medication. Both petitions were denied, and a judge deemed the appeal moot after Paleveda was found competent to stand trial at a hearing in June.Â
Criminal proceedings have also been delayed by Paleveda’s repeated refusals to appear in court, despite remaining in custody at Santa Rita Jail since his arrest. A refusal-to-appear notice was entered for Thursday’s hearing, along with an order for his transport from Santa Rita Jail to the East County Hall of Justice. Cynthia Dalipe, who testified at the hearing, confirmed to the Pleasanton Weekly that the defendant ultimately appeared in court.
In a blog post, Dalipe said the delays in the case were among the factors that have compounded her grief and trauma over the shooting. She was upstairs in the couple’s home when her husband was shot,
“Typical advice to someone who’s grieving is to take it a day at a time, and nothing’s more true than this for a victim of homicide, especially when it comes to our justice system in America,” she wrote in a July 6 Substack post. “Let’s take one facet of the working woman’s life: PTO. It’s used for vacation, holidays and sick days… usually. In my case, I get the joy of wasting my PTO in these many ways for the justice system:”
Dalipe said she had used at least five days of PTO this year attending court hearings that were ultimately rescheduled, including two instances in which Paleveda refused to appear.
“Yes, he’s in custody, no, it makes no sense,” she wrote.
In an Oct. 26 update to the online fundraiser started in the wake of her husband’s death, Dalipe called Thursday’s hearing a “huge milestone.”
Paleveda is set to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Nov. 12 at the East County Hall of Justice.
