Judge sets hearing on youth-court bid in killing of couple

Hunter Drexler
Hunter Drexler

CONWAY -- A judge on Tuesday set aside four days in October for a hearing to decide whether a teenager's capital-murder case should be transferred to juvenile court.

ADVERTISEMENT

More headlines

Each side intends to appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court if the other side prevails, Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Hugh Finkelstein said Tuesday after defendant Hunter Drexler, 19, of Clinton appeared in Faulkner County Circuit Court.

Drexler is one of four teenagers who were charged in the July 21, 2015, shooting deaths of Robert and Patricia Cogdell, both 66, of Conway. The Cogdells were the legal guardians of the youngest teenager.

Judge Troy Braswell set the transfer hearing for Oct. 18-21. Drexler's trial had been scheduled for that week but will be delayed because of his request to move the case to juvenile court. Braswell did not say if that hearing would be closed to the public. Details of the request were sealed.

Wearing gray and black jail clothing, Drexler sat between his attorneys, Patrick Benca and John Kennedy, during Tuesday's proceedings. Drexler's parents and other relatives sat on one side of the courtroom. Relatives of the slain couple sat on the opposite side.

Drexler was 17 when he and Justin Staton, then 14, were charged as adults with two counts each of capital murder, abuse of a corpse, aggravated robbery and theft of property. Staton, now 15, has since pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other offenses and has been sentenced to prison.

Connor Atchley, now 18, of Greenbrier also has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and felony theft by receiving. His girlfriend, Anastasia Roberts, 18, of Conway, is to appear in court Thursday on the same charges.

Braswell did not rule on a defense motion to bar the state from seeking a life-without-parole sentence. Finkelstein said later there was no need to act on that motion yet.

Benca and Kennedy last week asked Braswell to bar the state from shifting the burden of proving the case to the defense.

Braswell did not issue an order Tuesday but said he did not intend to allow such shifting to happen.

In the motion, the defense had said "examples of burden shifting" by the prosecution included a statement that the defendant could run forensic tests the state did not run to prove his innocence. Another example, Benca and Kennedy argued, involved the prosecution saying the defendant could not "provide the jury an alternative to the State's accusations."

"When the State attempts to shift its burden of proof to prove guilt towards the Defendant, it manifestly affects the due process of the trial and results in what should be declared as a mistrial," Benca and Kennedy wrote.

In a written response, the prosecution said it intends to abide by the Constitution.

Finkelstein added that "if the defense intends to infer that the State or the Conway Police Department did not run tests on the evidence, it would be proper for the jury to also know that the defense attorneys were offered the opportunity to run additional tests. This would not shift the burden of proof, require the defendant to testify, or comment on the defendant's right to remain silent."

"Prosecutors are allowed to make statements and present evidence to respond to a particular defense strategy, especially when it is the truth," he said. "The defense should not be allowed to mislead the jury into believing that if the State did not perform the tests, then no one can."

The last portion of the hearing Tuesday was closed to the public. Braswell agreed to allow Drexler's parents to remain in the courtroom.

State Desk on 09/21/2016

Upcoming Events