Mind-state defense out in 2 deaths at Conway

 Anastasia Roberts
Anastasia Roberts

CONWAY -- The attorney for a teenage girl charged in the shooting deaths of a Conway couple almost two years ago said Tuesday he does not plan to pursue a defense based on his client's mental state.

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A judge had agreed in April to allow more time for Anastasia Roberts of Conway to undergo an additional mental-health exam.

Roberts, who turned 19 on Tuesday, was one of four teenagers charged in the July 21, 2015, deaths of Patricia and Robert Cogdell, both 66, of Conway. Two of the teens -- Justin Staton, 16, of Conway and Connor Atchley, 18, of Greenbrier -- have pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges and been sentenced to prison. The other teenager, Hunter Drexler, 19, of Clinton, is awaiting trial.

Roberts' attorney, James Wyatt, told Faulkner County Circuit Judge Troy Braswell on Tuesday that he was withdrawing any effort to pursue a mental-health defense and needed another week to decide on the next course of action. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Joan Shipley said the state had no objection.

Braswell set Roberts' next pretrial hearing for 3:30 p.m. next Tuesday.

Wyatt noted that a defense motion seeking a transfer to juvenile court remains pending. He did not say whether he plans to pursue that motion. "We have a lot of options," he said.

Other options could include a negotiated plea agreement as happened with Staton and Atchley.

After the brief hearing, Wyatt said he could not comment on his reason for not proceeding with a mental-health defense.

Roberts had pleaded innocent shortly after she was charged with two counts each of first-degree murder and theft by receiving. She had never changed her plea to innocent by reason of mental disease or defect.

Wearing traditional orange-and-white jail garb, Roberts stood silently beside Wyatt during the hearing. As she left, she glanced at her mother who was seated in the courtroom. Roberts has been jailed in Faulkner County without bail since her arrest in Texas in July 2015.

Drexler also remains jailed without bail. He is charged with two counts each of capital murder, abuse of a corpse, aggravated robbery and theft of property by threat.

Drexler's attorney, Patrick Benca, is appealing Braswell's decision rejecting a transfer to juvenile court. The case is before the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Staton was 14 at the time of the crime at the Cogdells' home. The couple had been the boy's guardians since 2010, even though they had learned through earlier genetic testing that their son was not the boy's biological father as they once had thought.

Police affidavits have said the three male defendants were in the Faulkner County jail's juvenile section when they hatched the plot to kill the Cogdells for the couple's money and credit cards. Roberts was Atchley's girlfriend.

State Desk on 06/21/2017

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