The Iberia Parish trial of an 11-year-old girl accused of murder has been delayed by a week.
The trial was set to begin at 1 p.m. on Thursday, but during a hearing 16th Judicial District Court Judge Roger P. Hamilton Jr. granted a motion from the girl's attorneys and re-set the trial for next Thursday, March 14.
Hamilton also denied a motion from the defense to release her pending that trial.
The child, who KATC will not name because of her age, was arrested last November in connection with the shooting death of Kameran Bedsole, 36. He was found dead of gunshot wounds on Jasper Road. The girl's 15-year-old brother and her mother also have been arrested in the case.
The girl was booked with first-degree murder. The boy was booked with first-degree murder and their mother, Sabrina Washington, 40, was booked with two counts accessory after the fact. Washington remains in the Iberia Parish jail in lieu of $400,000 bond. The boy was booked into the Jackson Parish Juvenile Detention Center, and the girl is being held at the Lafayette Parish Juvenile Detention Center.
During the hearing, about 20 family members and supporters of the girl, as well as about 20 family members and supporters of the victim, were present in court, seated on opposite sides of the courtroom. Before that, some of the girl's family members were on the courthouse steps to speak with the media.
Her sisters and her grandmother said they miss her and want her home.
"(She) doesn't deserve to be here. She's just a child," her grandmother, Sandra Washington, said. "She's strong. I've been talking to her on the phone. I told her to keep praying, we're with you. We miss her so much. She's got to come home."
Shortly before court began, the girl was brought into the courtroom to sit at the defense table with her two attorneys and her father, who she spoke with throughout the proceeding.
There's a gag order in place on the case, meaning that prosecutors, defense attorneys and witnesses can't answer questions about the case. The judge reiterated that before the hearing got started Thursday afternoon.
After that, Assistant District Attorney W. Claire Howington told the judge her office was adding another charge against the girl, that of accessory after the fact. She also said that prosecutors were "open to resolving these charges," which seemed to indicate a willingness to plea bargain.
And then Defense Attorney Ronald Haley told the judge he needed a continuance. He said it's not the prosecutors' fault, but they had just given him more than 1,000 pages of telephone records they got via a search warrant on Wednesday.
State law requires that, if a child is accused of a crime of violence and is in jail, their trial must happen within 60 days. If the child isn't in jail, it has to happen within 90 days. The judge seemed upset, saying he thought that all attorneys would be ready for trial on Thursday.
"This is not an adult case where we can kick the can down the road," Hamilton said. "We're dealing with a child's life. For her, time is of the essence."
Haley said he understands the tight deadline, but he is concerned that more evidence may come out in the related cases - and that evidence might prove her innocence.
"The issue is that there may be substantive evidence out there that might exonerate this child. It's not that we aren't ready to go - it's that we don't have all the information to go," Haley said. "We don't control the information. And this is not a slight toward the state at all. But all the search warrants and subpoenas haven't come back. They don't have all the information."
Assistant District Attorney Morris Michael Haik III said the defense can have everything he has. He said prosecutors don't oppose the continuance, but they've done everything they can to make sure the defense has every bit of evidence they're entitled to.
Hamilton said he was reluctantly granting a one-week continuance but he also told Haley "you need to do what you need to do to make the time to defend this case."
Haley at that point reminded the court that he had the power to release the child from jail, but Hamilton denied that request.
Hamilton also set a pre-trial hearing for Monday; he said all motions must be filed by that time.
Before court was adjourned, all witnesses in the case who were there because they had been subpoenaed to appeaer were brought to the court reporter to be formally notified of next week's trial. Among them were the child's grandmother and one sister, several sheriff's deputies, and two children who appeared to be younger than she is.
