A judge told a man accused of killing his friend last year at a Cross Lanes motel to meet with his lawyer Tuesday morning, before his trial is set to begin.
Kanawha Circuit Judge Charles King said Monday that he wants Terrick Hogan to meet with his lawyer, "so [Hogan] can have a clear understanding of where you all are."
The judge said the hearing will be held in the courtroom, but that he wouldn't be present.
"The conversation will be between you and you client," King told Hogan's lawyer. The conversation won't be made part of the record in the case, the judge added, "unless there is a trial."
Hogan faces felony murder and conspiracy charges in the January 2015 death of Kalvon Casdorph. He could be sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.
Earlier this year, Hogan backed out of a plea deal he had made with prosecutors. That deal would have required him to admit to murder, but would have included a sentence of life in prison with mercy, meaning Hogan could go before a parole board after serving 15 years.
At the time, King also allowed Hogan to switch lawyers. The judge dismissed Troy Giatras and appointed Tim Carrico to represent him.
On Monday, King denied attempts by Carrico to suppress what he called an incriminating statement Hogan gave to police on the day he was arrested.
Carrico argued that State Police troopers held Hogan for about six hours at their headquarters after he gave an initial statement that wasn't incriminating.
The troopers should have taken him before a magistrate for arraignment instead of waiting for the second interview, Hogan's lawyer said.
The troopers testified, though, that it was just the two of them conducting the investigation into Casdorph's death that night. In addition to interviewing Hogan, they also interviewed the two people arrested with Hogan.
Assistant Kanawha prosecutor Maryclaire Akers pointed out that the three were arrested on a Sunday. That means that a magistrate in Kanawha was only available for a small window that night, between 8 and 11:30 p.m.
It was after 11 p.m. that troopers said they had completed questioning the defendants and requested a magistrate arraign them.
A magistrate that night said to take them on to South Central Regional Jail and that they'd be arraigned the next morning.
King ultimately decided that the timing of the arraignment didn't infringe on Hogan's rights.
Marcus Dominick Curtis, of Dunbar, and Shayla Stephenson, of St. Albans, have already pleaded guilty to charges stemming from Casdorph's death. As part of the deals they made with prosecutors, both Curtis and Stephenson agreed to testify against Hogan at trial.
Curtis, who pleaded guilty to murder, told King that he shot Casdorph twice inside a room at a Motel 6. He said he took a little more than $3,000 from Casdorph's pants, before speeding off in a car with Hogan and Stephenson.
Casdorph and Hogan had been gambling at the Mardi Gras Resort and Casino before going to the motel, according to police. Curtis said that it was Hogan who encouraged him to rob Casdorph, and police say text messages between the two prove it.
Stephenson, the mother of Hogan's child, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery. In exchange for her cooperation, prosecutors dropped murder and first-degree robbery charges she was facing. She faces between one to five years in jail.
The judge is waiting to sentenced Curtis and Stephenson until after Hogan's trial.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.