OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Attorneys and a judge are working to determine what kind of evidence will be allowed in court for the trial of the murder of Nicole Montalvo in Osceola County.

Her estranged husband, Christopher Otero-Rivera, and father-in-law Angel Luis Rivera appeared in court Friday morning. They’re charged with the murder of the St. Cloud mother whose body was found dismembered on the Rivera property in October of 2019.

A motion made to exclude records showing that Montalvo tried modifying a domestic violence injunction against Otero-Rivera was granted. The judge said they could revisit this decision if the trial’s strategy changed.

In another motion, the defense team asked the judge not to allow certain pictures in court. The pictures taken of the Rivera home show several tools, including a hatchet, machete, knives, and a power blade.

The state argued that those images should be allowed because one of those tools could have been used in the crime. The defense said that these tools were tested for blood and that nothing linked them to the crime.

“To get Ms. Montalvo — and I hate to be graphic into the number of pieces that she was in … We believe it is relevant that there were tools on the property capable, according to the expert testimony, of creating this dismemberment,” Assistant State Attorney Ryan Williams argued.

Migdalia Perez, Christopher Otero-Rivera's Attorney said, “And so for the state to say I should be permitted to bring in these photos of all these things that were found in a mechanic shop that’s just kind of nillie willie, you could do that … You can’t do that, it’s inadmissible.”

The judge said he will allow the photos of the tools in court if the state, “lays the predicate effectively.”

The judge also granted a motion to not include that the Riveras owned a gun or ammunition, after the defense noted that those weapons could not be tied to the murder.

Jury selection is set to begin April 5.