The date for the murder trial of a Hutchinson man has been moved again. The attorney representing Charles Christopher Logsdon, Michael Brown made the request of Judge Trish Rose citing the amount of evidence in the case as well as some additional lab work, yet to be received from the KBI.
District Attorney Keith Schroeder questioned moving the trial saying it could last between 5 to 6 weeks with 146-state witnesses. He says moving it to October could push it into the Thanksgiving holiday. Plus there could be some conflicts between counsel during that time. Schroeder suggested to the judge that if she moves the trial, they recess the trial for any conflict that may arise, that way all counsel can be present for all testimony. The judge agreed that would be wise. So the trial is now moved from September 14, to October 22.
The second defense motion was a change of venue where the defense wanted the trial moved out of county, citing pretrial publicity. Brown wanted to survey Reno County voters to see how much they knew of the case. But, the board of Indigent Defense wouldn’t approved spending the money, saying Reno County is big enough that there is enough residents who wouldn’t be prejudiced by the pretrial publicity. Judge Rose agreed with the state that those issues can be dealt with jury questionnaires that will be filled out. As well as questions asked during the actual jury selection.
The defense was denied a motion to suppress over statements made by Logsdon on six occasions, the first shortly after his arrested in Hastings, Nebraska. The others were while he was in the Reno and Ford County jails. The state had detectives take the stand and show that each time, he was read his Miranda rights and then spoke voluntarily with the detectives.
Logsdon along with co-defendant Billy Craig, Jr., are charged with the First Degree murder for the killing of Jennifer Heckel in the summer of 2011. Other charges against the two include conspiracy to commit first degree murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Logsdon is also charged with aggravated intimidation of a witness for allegedly threatening another inmate, Matthew Mounce.
Craig’s trial was also recently continued and will be scheduled after the first of the year.