Case tossed for granddad of teen killer

CONWAY — The prosecutor’s office dropped a felony charge Friday against the maternal grandfather of a teenage boy convicted of killing his legal guardians last year.

The grandfather, Randy Staton, 59, of Conway had sought to replace Robert and Patricia Cogdell as the boy’s guardian three months before the killings. Staton said in a court motion at the time that the boy, Justin Staton, had “entered his teenage years and indicated a preference for living with his biological family.”

Randy Staton was originally charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution in the aftermath of the July 21, 2015, shooting deaths of the Cogdells, both 66. The Conway couple had been Justin Staton’s guardians since 2010, even though genetic testing proved their son was not the boy’s father.

Justin Staton, 14 when the killings occurred, and a friend, Connor Atchley, now 18, of Greenbrier have pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other offenses and were sentenced to prison. Staton is now 15. Hunter Drexler, 19, of Clinton and Anastasia Roberts, 18, of Conway also were charged in the deaths and await trial.

Circuit Judge Charles Clawson Jr. later Friday approved dismissal of the charge against Randy Staton.

“As prosecuting attorneys, we are charged with seeking justice in criminal cases not winning at all costs,” Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland said in a text message. “We make filing decisions based on evidence which in many cases includes witness testimony.

“If in the course of preparing for a trial, we lose confidence in the veracity of that testimony and no longer have an abiding conviction that the initial information provided is true; it is incumbent for us to revisit the decision to [ensure] that a just result will be reached. That’s exactly what happened with this particular charge against Mr. Staton,” Hiland said.

Staton’s attorney, Omar Greene, said later that he didn’t believe his client “had any intentions of breaking the law.”

“He was very cooperative with the police, and he made sure that his grandson’s bloody clothes were turned over to the police,” Greene said.

“To the prosecutors’ credit … they listened to us, they went and took another look at” the case, Greene said. “They decided he didn’t deserve to be prosecuted.”

Greene noted that prosecutors “have an ethical duty to seek justice.”

“I think they did what they’re supposed to,” he said. “They did the right thing.”

Greene specifically mentioned Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Hugh Finkelstein and deputy prosecutor Joan Shipley.