CONWAY -- A Faulkner County circuit judge on Wednesday granted a motion to suspend the juvenile-transfer hearing for the 17-year-old girl accused with three other teenagers in the shooting deaths of a Conway couple last summer.
The attorney for Anastasia Roberts of Conway requested in March that her case be transferred from adult court to juvenile court, which can result in a shorter sentence for a convicted youth.
Roberts, 17, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of theft by receiving in the July 21 killings of Patricia and Robert Cogdell, both 66, of Conway.
The defense is still working out issues with prosecutors, defense attorney James Wyatt told Faulkner County Circuit Judge Troy Braswell.
"I just think it would be premature to do this if something else works out with the state," Wyatt said, adding after the hearing that a plea deal or issues related to discovery or other matters in the case may be discussed with the prosecution.
Prosecutors had no objection to the motion. Roberts' right to a speedy trial has been waived, and attorneys will report back on their progress June 30, when one of the other teens, 18-year-old Hunter Drexler of Clinton, is to be in court.
Braswell could reschedule the juvenile-transfer hearing at that point.
Prosecuting Attorney Hugh Finkelstein said after the hearing that another juvenile-transfer hearing would be set if a plea deal wasn't worked out with Roberts' defense team.
A third teenager charged in the killings, 17-year-old Connor Atchley of Greenbrier, has also requested that his case be transferred to juvenile court.
A fourth defendant, 15-year-old Justin Staton, pleaded guilty earlier this month to first-degree murder and other charges after attorneys struck a deal that prosecutors said provides "substantial" evidence against Drexler, who has not requested a transfer to juvenile court. Staton was sentenced to 35 years in prison for two counts of first-degree murder, aggravated robbery, theft of property by threat and abuse of a corpse.
The Cogdells had been Staton's legal guardians since 2010 and had thought they were his paternal grandparents until DNA testing proved otherwise in 2008. Staton was 14 at the time of the killings.
The Cogdells were found shot to death July 21 in what police said was part of a plot to steal money and credit cards that was hatched when the three boys were together in a youth lockup.
Metro on 05/26/2016