CONWAY -- Hunter Drexler, the oldest of four teenagers accused of murdering a Conway couple, asked a judge again Monday to reconsider granting bail.
A prosecutor quickly objected, citing concerns that Drexler's maternal grandfather has the attitude and the means to help the defendant flee.
Defense attorney Patrick Benca filed the motion seeking bail one day before Drexler, 19, of Clinton has a pretrial hearing in Faulkner County Circuit Court.
Deputy prosecutor Hugh Finkelstein wrote in a response that Drexler's grandfather John Ison testified during a juvenile-transfer hearing that he had sent Drexler Facebook messages after the teenager fled to Texas with two co-defendants.
"In those messages, Mr. Ison told the defendant that he has connections" and that he could make the guns "disappear," a reference to the guns that the prosecution says Drexler stole from his father's home and that were used in the July 21, 2015, killings of Robert and Patricia Cogdell, both 66.
"It was also brought out by the defense that Mr. Ison had over $750,000 in cash at his house, and that the defendant knew this and had access to the cash," Finkelstein wrote. "Based on Mr. Ison's apparent attitude in favor of disposing of evidence and his apparent access to large amounts of cash, the State does not trust that Mr. Ison would not aid his grandson in leaving the state or country."
Benca argued that at the time of the crimes, Drexler was 17, but Finkelstein said Drexler was less than two months shy of turning 18. Like his co-defendants, Drexler was charged as an adult.
Benca said physical evidence "refutes nearly all of [Justin] Staton's testimony as it relates to Drexler's actions on the day in question."
Drexler has been jailed without bail since his arrest July 23, 2015, in north-central Texas along with two of the other teenagers -- Connor Atchley and his girlfriend, Anastasia Roberts, both now 18.
The fourth defendant, Staton, now 16, was arrested at his mother's Conway home shortly after police found the Cogdells' bodies. The Cogdells had raised Staton like a grandson and had been his legal guardians since 2010 even though genetic testing had shown their son was not the boy's biological father.
Atchley and Staton have pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges and are in prison. Roberts and Drexler await trial.
Benca also said the state has "abandoned the version [of the crime] set out" when the teenagers were charged "and now relies on a version outlined by" Staton, who was 14 at the time of the slayings.
"In his testimony, he [Staton] acknowledged being responsible for putting the kill shots to both of his grandparents," Benca wrote. In a footnote, Benca added, "Justin Staton received a [35-year] sentence from the State in exchange for implicating Drexler. Staton will likely be released from prison before his 40th birthday for executing his grandparents."
If convicted of capital murder, Drexler would face either life in prison without parole or life with the possibility of parole after 28 years in prison, the prosecution said in its response.
Finkelstein countered that Drexler's theft of the guns from his father's house and delivery of them to the Cogdells' home proves Drexler "was involved in the plan to rob and murder the Cogdells."
Finkelstein said that for Drexler to flee to Texas, he had to have removed an ankle monitor he was already wearing for one or more juvenile offenses.
According to Finkelstein, text messages obtained from Staton's iPod and exchanged with the cellphone belonging to Drexler show that, on the day before the killings, Staton asked Drexler "if he needs to do it tonight, referring to murdering the Cogdells."
"The defendant [Drexler] eventually responds that if he waited until the next day, that they could both do it together because the defendant would be able to drive without being detected since he was getting a new ankle monitor without a GPS," Finkelstein wrote. "The fact that the defendant [Drexler] did in fact get a different ankle monitor without GPS at that time was confirmed."
Text messages from the day of the killings show that Drexler "is telling Justin Staton that he is going to need to get Shaggy, who was identified as Connor Atchley, to help him break into safes," the prosecutor wrote.
"Justin asks the defendant to send him a photo of what's inside the safe and reminds the defendant not to forget the ammo. The defendant [Drexler] replies that he's getting a bunch of clips for the pistol and says that they're already loaded."
Later that day Staton tells Drexler "that they have to wait for his grandfather to get home since he has the racks," slang for money, Finkelstein wrote. Staton adds "that they really need the cash," the prosecutor said.
State Desk on 03/07/2017