CONWAY -- Two families listened quietly from opposite sides of the small courtroom Wednesday as a teenage boy apologized for his role in the deaths of a Conway couple last summer.
"I never intended for anyone to get hurt," Connor Atchley, 17, of Greenbrier said as his parents and a grandmother sat several feet behind him in Faulkner County Circuit Court.
Across the aisle sat relatives of Robert and Patricia Cogdell, both 66, who were shot to death at their home in west Conway during what authorities say was part of a crime Atchley and two other teenage boys plotted while together in a juvenile lockup.
Another teenager -- Atchley's girlfriend, Anastasia Roberts, 18, of Conway -- awaits trial on charges of first-degree murder and theft by receiving, the same charges he faced.
His legs and hands shackled and his demeanor mostly composed, Atchley pleaded guilty Wednesday. He apologized to the Cogdells' family even though he already knew his sentence, which was part of a plea agreement with prosecutors: 25 years in prison with the suspended imposition of an additional 15 years.
He could have faced a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Atchley's voice broke slightly as he made the statement. A relative of the Cogdells wiped away tears.
Atchley will turn 18 on July 20, one day before the first anniversary of the Cogdells' deaths. He obtained his GED diploma while in the county jail.
Judge Troy Braswell, presiding over the second guilty plea in the murders, told Atchley that his prayer was that Atchley's future choices would be "for good and not for evil."
In May, Braswell sentenced the youngest defendant, Justin Staton, 15, to 35 years in prison. The Cogdells had been Staton's legal guardians since he was 10 and had previously thought they were his paternal grandparents until DNA testing proved otherwise. Still, they raised him like a grandson. Staton was 14 when the killings took place.
The oldest defendant, Hunter Drexler, 18, of Clinton, awaits trial on capital-murder and other charges. Drexler cannot face the death penalty because he was 17 at the time of the crimes.
Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Hugh Finkelstein said in a statement of "factual basis" that Staton and Drexler had planned to rob and kill the Cogdells "in order to help them run away from Arkansas."
"Connor Atchley knew about the robbery, and he and his girlfriend, Anastasia Roberts, were going to get part of the stolen money and credit cards, as well as a stolen car," Finkelstein said.
Drexler is the one who picked up Atchley and Roberts on July 21 and drove them to the Cogdells' home, Finkelstein said. The murder weapons -- a .22-caliber pistol and a .22-caliber rifle -- were among the guns in Drexler's vehicle, he said.
"They met up with Justin Staton at the Cogdell home and waited until the Cogdells came home," Finkelstein said. "When the [Cogdells] got to the house, Connor and Anastasia went into the master bedroom. While they were inside the bedroom, Justin and Hunter shot Robert Cogdell numerous times after he had entered the house. Both Anastasia and Connor were shot while they were inside the master bedroom. Patricia Cogdell was also shot numerous times while she was still seated in the vehicle" in the garage.
Afterward, "Connor was given over $1,000 in cash," Finkelstein said. Atchley and Roberts drove Robert Cogdell's pickup to the Wal-Mart on Dave Ward Drive in Conway to wait on the other teens. While there, Atchley used one of Cogdell's credit cards to buy gas for the truck.
Authorities have said Drexler and Staton used a front-end loader to move the bodies to a treeline near the Cogdells' house.
After the four teens met at the Wal-Mart, Finkelstein said, they drove to the house where Staton's biological mother and grandfather lived in Conway. Staton stayed there overnight; the other three stayed in a Conway motel and the next day fled to Texas, where they were later arrested, the prosecutor said.
Atchley's plea agreement requires that he testify if needed in the trials of any co-defendants. He must serve 70 percent of his sentence before he will be eligible for parole.
Defense attorney Frank Shaw said after the hearing that Atchley had not thought Staton would carry through with the plan to shoot anyone.
"But he was mistaken" and under the law was an accomplice, Shaw said
Shaw said he would have preferred a shorter sentence for Atchley but said the law isn't clear on whether the defense could have told jurors about Staton's sentence. Unlike Staton, Shaw said, Atchley "didn't shoot anybody."
While Finkelstein's statement did not say Atchley knew about a murder plan, Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland said later that Atchley did know.
"Connor Atchley may not have pulled the trigger but he clearly was aware of the plan to rob and kill the Cogdells, had an expectation of benefiting from it and he did benefit from it," Hiland said in a text message.
Shaw said Atchley had gone to jail in the past for smoking marijuana and for violating a court order to stay away from his girlfriend, Roberts. The plot against the Cogdells was hatched during that incarceration, authorities and Shaw said.
"So while Connor was in jail, he became aware of an opportunity for him and Anastasia to run away together," Shaw said.
The dream of running away was one shared by all four teenagers, Shaw said.
"All of them desperately wanted to get away for their own reasons," he said.
State Desk on 07/07/2016