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Suspects In Marlen Ochoa Murder Case To Appear In Court; Judge Could Rule On Gag Order

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Tuesday the three people charged in Marlen Ochoa's death will be in court, and the judge may rule on a gag order filed by the lawyer of two of the defendants.

Clarisa Figueroa, 46, and her daughter Desiree, 25, pleaded not guilty in June to charges of murder, kidnapping, dismembering a body, and concealing a homicide in Ochoa's death. They were later charged murder of her baby, Yovanny Lopez, who died on June 14, nearly two months after they allegedly cut him from her womb.

Clarisa and Desiree Figueroa
Clarisa Figueroa (left) and Desiree Figueroa (right) are accused of strangling 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa and cutting her baby, Yovanny Lopez, from her womb to pass off as the elder Figueroa's. (Source: Cook County Sheriff)

Piotr Bobak, who is Clarisa's boyfriend, is charged with concealing Ochoa's murder.

Ochoa was killed in April after police say she was lured to Clarisa Figueroa's home for free baby clothes and items.

Earlier this summer the lawyer for the Figueroas asked that Ochoa's family lawyer and other people not speak to reporters about the case.

Frank Avila, the attorney for Ochoa's husband, Yovanny Lopez, said after that hearing that the motion was designed "to silence us."

Prosecutors have said the Figueroas plotted for weeks to kill Ochoa and steal her baby.

According to police and prosecutors, the pair strangled Ochoa at their home in the Scottsdale neighborhood on April 23, and then the elder Figueroa cut Yovanny from Ochoa's womb, and passed him off as her own when she went to Christ Medical Center.

RELATED: Hospital Bills Ochoa Family For 'Figueroa Boy' After Baby Was Cut From Mother's Womb

Yovanny died on June 14, after two months on life support at the hospital. His death was ruled a homicide. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office determined Yovanny died from lack of oxygen to the brain.

The baby's real identity was not revealed for three weeks after he was born, after police investigating Ochoa's disappearance conducted a DNA test on the baby and confirmed he was Ochoa's. Detectives later found Ochoa's body stuffed in a trash can at the Figueroas' home.

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