WHITE CO.—The much-anticipated presence of Danny K. Coston’s new attorney was stifled today in White County circuit court when N. Scott Rosenblum had a stand-in.
Danny Coston, accompanied by Sheriff Doug Maier and deputies, on the way to today’s (10.31.12) hearing.
Coston, 36, the man accused of murdering Jacob Wheeler, 22, and Jessica Evans, 17, August 26, was in court today (Wednesday, 10.31.12) for a basic pretrial conference with attorneys in order to see how the case is progressing.
During today’s hearing, again in a packed courtroom filled with supporters of not only Wheeler’s and Evans’, but also many Coston friends and family (as has been the case since the outset), saw a change of cast, but no significant movement forward. And, judging by the dates set for upcoming court matters, things are now going to slow down considerably.
It was reported a couple of weeks ago that Coston’s family had secured the legal services of one of “America’s top attorneys” if the advertisements are to be believed—N. Scott Rosenblum of St. Louis. However, because most of these attorneys “rate” each other, and nothing really meaningful is ever quoted truthfully (such as from satisfied as well as DISsatisfied clients), it’s all case-to-case as to whether the hype is true.
Attorney John P. Rogers. They all must specialize in looking like visages of demons at that law firm. Just sayin.
And it wasn’t Rosenblum today: it was a partner in the firm, John Rogers, who appeared for Coston, and didn’t seem to know a whole lot of what was going on or what he was doing there. That, along with his questionable fashion sense (the navy slacks and gray blazer just didn’t quite go with the blue shirt), made for a kind of awkward day.
The changes made included court-appointed attorneys Jerry Crisel and Rhonda Blades filing their removal from the case, and the Rosenblum firm entering an appearance; as well, Judge Tom Sutton was gone from the case and in his place appeared today Judge Tom Foster, Gallatin County resident judge, who’ll hear the remainder of the case.
Upcoming changes include the departure of prosecutor T. Scott Webb, who will ascend to the bench in December and his assistant, Denton Aud, will be taking over the state’s attorney’s office, as each are running unopposed.
Rogers was a little slow on getting his client out of the chambers behind the bench (he had to be prompted by Webb to do so), but proceeded on with minimal efficiency.
It was pointed out that Coston’s speedy trial clock had stopped (jailed defendants get a trial in 120 days; Coston’s being held on a $3 million bail/$300,000 cash bond) upon filing of Motion to Suppress Statement earlier this month. This was important, as it was established today that there won’t be another hearing until January 9, 2013. The delay will be attributed to Coston; the clock will pick back up after the motion to suppress is heard, whenever that may be. The January 9 date is just a status hearing.
After Rogers was lead around the proceedings by Webb, Rogers spoke briefly with Coston, and the day’s hearing was done. The whole thing start to finish lasted around 30 minutes, including delays.
A co-defendant in the case, Coston’s live-in babymomma Candice Brown, will be in court for a preliminary hearing next Wednesday, November 7; she’s charged with Obstruction of Justice for allegedly lying to authorities regarding Coston’s whereabouts on the night of the murders. We’ll be bringing that to you as quickly as possible. In the meantime, please consider a subscription to Disclosure, or signing up for the online e-Edition, where all the articles and photos of the current issue will be available to you right here on your computer…and thanks for reading Disclosure News Online!