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Trial date set for Campbell in Lincoln double murders

November 26, 2008|TODD KLEFFMAN

STANFORD - Jamarkos Campbell will go it alone and be the first of four defendants to face trial for the 2002 murders of Ryan Shangraw and Bo Upton.

Lincoln Circuit Judge Jeffrey Burdette on Tuesday granted Commonwealth's Attorney Eddy Montgomery's motion to separate Campbell from the other defendants and put him on trial first. The scheduled date for the trial is April 6.

"Jamarkos Campbell has given numerous statements implicating the other defendants," Montgomery said in arguing his motion to split the trials.

Also, Montgomery said, Campbell is not facing capital punishment because he was a juvenile when Shangraw and Upton were shot to death inside Shangraw's rented trailer in Hubble in February 2006.

Montgomery is seeking the death penalty against three other defendants - Deonte Simmons, Charles E. Smith and Neccolus Mundy - all of whom appeared together, along with Campbell, before Burdette on Tuesday in a packed courtroom lined with extra security personnel.

A fifth person charged in the case, Matthew Tolson, has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and other charges. He has agreed to testify against the others in exchange for a recommended sentence of 20 years in prison.

Campbell, 23, was the first of the five charged when he was arrested in April, breaking open a case that had been dormant for six years. All of the defendants are from Richmond and have cocaine trafficking convictions in their criminal records.

Judge refuses to close hearings

Burdette also denied a motion by Mundy's attorney, public defender James Cox of Somerset, to close all hearings in the case to the public and issue a gag order prohibiting parties and witnesses from speaking to the media. Pretrial publicity in the case already has been "extreme," Cox said.

"My ultimate concern is the ability of my client to receive a fair trial," Cox told Burdette. "There are a lot of press, a lot of people in this courtroom."

Montgomery countered, "The last time I looked, the courtroom is a public place. The public and the press has a right to be here."

Cox also asked the judge to reduce Mundy's bond from $750,000.

"I don't think he has been charged with shooting anybody in this case," Cox said.

Burdette denied that motion Tuesday, but agreed to hold an adversarial hearing on Dec. 17 to further consider the matter. Cox said he will attempt to attack the strength of the prosecutors' case against his client at the hearing.

"If it's a weak case, the bond should be reduced," Cox said.

Also on tap for the December hearing is Montgomery's plan to consolidate the death penalty cases against Simmons, Mundy and Smith into one trial. Cox said Tuesday he will oppose that motion and ask that his client receive his own trial.

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