Judge to rule on transfer of teen in Conway killings

Faulkner County Circuit Judge Troy Braswell will decide in the next two weeks whether a teenager accused of murdering a Conway couple in July 2015 will be tried as an adult or transferred to juvenile court, Braswell said Friday.

ADVERTISEMENT

More headlines

The judge's decision will come nearly 100 days after the first hearing on the transfer motion was held Oct. 18.

Hunter Drexler, 19, of Clinton is charged with two counts each of capital murder, aggravated robbery, theft of property obtained by threat of serious physical injury and abuse of corpse, all felonies.

The charges stem from the July 21, 2015, killings of Patricia and Robert Cogdell, both 66, at their Conway home. Authorities arrested four teenagers in the case, asserting that three of them had plotted the murders and accompanying robbery while incarcerated at a juvenile detention center earlier in the summer. Drexler and two other teenagers fled to Texas, and authorities have argued they robbed the Cogdells for money to run away.

Charged as an adult, Drexler can face life in prison, if convicted. Because he was 17 at the time of the murders, he would not be eligible for the death penalty. Drexler would likely face a less-severe penalty in juvenile court, if convicted.

The Cogdells were the legal guardians of Justin Staton, 16, who pleaded guilty last year to first-degree murder in the case. The couple had been Staton's legal guardians since 2010 and had thought they were his paternal grandparents until DNA testing proved otherwise in 2008.

Two other teenagers also were charged in the killings. Connor Atchley, 18, of Greenbrier pleaded guilty last year to first-degree murder and other offenses. Anastasia Roberts, 18, of Conway is awaiting trial on first-degree murder and theft by receiving charges. She is the girlfriend of Atchley.

Faulkner County Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Hugh Finkelstein argued that the seriousness of the crime and Drexler's alleged role in it warranted that Drexler be tried as an adult. Drexler was a co-conspirator to a robbery and murders, insisting on joining Staton's plan to kill the Cogdells and providing the guns, even when Staton initially planned to do it himself, Finkelstein said.

"Hunter Drexler is equally responsible as an accomplice to all these crimes," Finkelstein said.

Defense attorney Patrick Benca argued prosecutors had yet to show evidence that Drexler was any kind of leader in the killings. Drexler was an immature teenager who wound up in the throes of another teenager's long-contemplated murder scheme, Benca said.

"His thing was running and smoking marijuana ... he's not very mature," Benca said.

Braswell will consider 30 pages of notes and more than 100 exhibits in determining if the juvenile-court system is the right place for Drexler.

Arkansas Code 9-27-318 lays out at least nine factors Braswell must consider in making the ruling, including the "seriousness of the alleged offense," whether it was premeditated, Drexler's culpability in committing or planning the offense, his previous juvenile-offense history and whether there are programs in place to rehabilitate the defendant before his 21st birthday.

On Friday, Braswell admitted as evidence several pages of text messages obtained on Staton's iPod that prosecutors said were exchanged with Drexler's phone.

Whether the text messages could be admitted had been debated and led Braswell to suspend a hearing in December to allow Benca time to consult an expert in data recovery from electronic devices.

Benca objected Friday to admission of the text messages, arguing that prosecutors had not proved that Drexler was the one who sent the messages to Staton. Prosecutors argued the messages contained things only Drexler could have known, such as information about changes to his ankle monitor.

Braswell also allowed the admission of an email exchange between Staton and an unknown person provided by Benca that appeared to indicate Staton had been thinking about killing the Cogdells before meeting Drexler.

The text messages detailed Staton and another person prosecutors said was Drexler discussing both eating cereal and plans to meet and do something. They mention ammunition, a desire to get Robert Cogdell's money, and that they could do that together on the night of July 21, 2015, after Staton's counseling appointment.

In closing arguments, Benca said the text messages were too vague to indicate that Drexler had full knowledge of the murder plot. Finkelstein rejected that assertion.

"He understands, based on those text messages, what the plan is," Finkelstein said.

Staton testified on behalf of prosecutors Friday, saying he had plotted his grandparents' slayings with Drexler, first mentioning his desire to kill them while he and Drexler were in jail together. Drexler obtained the guns that were used in the killings from his father's house, he said, and Drexler fired shots at Robert Cogdell.

Staton recalled the events leading up to the murders and the night of the murders in detail, choking up when saying the names of his grandparents and crying when describing how he shot each of them in the head.

"I went past him [Drexler], stuck my rifle out, and I shot my grandma," he said, struggling to wipe away tears with a tissue, his hands chained in handcuffs to a belt around his waist.

When cross-examined by Benca and presented with emails to Staton's Yahoo email account in April 2015, Staton recalled mentioning his desire to kill his grandparents to a stepbrother who now lives in Arizona. The emails depicted several ideas for how to kill "three people," who were not identified in the emails. Benca argued that Staton had been planning to kill his grandparents long before he met Drexler.

Throughout the several hearings on the transfer motion, more than two dozen witnesses and more than 100 exhibits were introduced. Benca criticized the state's evidence -- questioning shell casings and spots where blood was found -- and the credibility of the police investigation. Finkelstein noted Staton's testimony and text messages, Drexler's drug use and struggles to stay clean.

Drexler's mother testified that her son was "considerate," and a former coach of Drexler's testified that he was a leader on Clinton High School's cross country team as a sophomore in 2013.

Drexler's probation officer detailed his arrest on misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia in May 2014 and numerous subsequent positive drug tests, including for marijuana and methamphetamine.

He eventually went to jail, where he met Staton and was a cellmate with Atchley.

Braswell said he would issue a ruling by the close of business Jan. 27. He also scheduled a status hearing for 9 a.m. March 7.

Metro on 01/14/2017

Upcoming Events