Photo: Savannah Nicole Wren
A woman charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of then 19-year-old Chaseton Lewter appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Retired Circuit Judge Gordon Webb was on the bench. He is handling a number of cases in Baxter, Boone and Marion counties on assignment by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
In all, Judge Webb has been given 20 cases, six of them in Baxter County. His assignment was made in an attempt to clear a backlog of cases caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The cases assigned to Judge Webb are ones expected to take the longest to try.
The purpose of the short hearing Thursday was to determine who would be representing 22-year-old Savannah Nicole Wren.
Gassville attorney Cody Dennis had initially made an entry of appearance in the case but has apparently not been directly involved for some time.
Judge Webb said neither Wren nor Dennis appeared for a court session he held in Boone County Nov. 2.
The purpose of the hearing was to bring the parties in all of the 20 cases together in one room to discuss the logistics of getting the matters resolved.
A relative of Wren’s said prior to the Nov. 2 hearing in Harrison, Dennis had informed them he had obtained a continuance in the case. Judge Webb said Thursday he found no record in the file to indicate a continuance had been sought or granted.
Judge Webb said, “We need to get the matter of representation settled so we can salvage this case as best we can. I want to move forward.”
The court was also told that representatives of the company that wrote her $200,000 bond have had “limited” contact with Wren.
Mountain Home attorney Paul Bayless told the court he would step in to represent Wren and would be ready for a Jan. 10 reappearance she was ordered to make.
Judge Webb said he was pleased that the issue of representation was settled. “My goal is to take care of all 20 cases in three-to-four months and you can’t move ahead when the matter of representation is unsettled,” he said
THE MURDER
In the early morning hours of Nov. 24 last year, Mountain Home police were called to an address along Cooper Estates Drive where a male was reported to have been shot.
Police found Lewter in the back bedroom with an apparent gunshot wound to his forehead.
He was first taken to Baxter Regional Medical Center and then flown to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock where he succumbed to his wound.
Wren was reported to be the resident at the Cooper Estates Drive address. She fled on foot before police arrived.
Investigators were told by two people who had been at Wren’s residence when the incident took place that Wren shot Lewter.
She was tracked to a location in Marion County and arrested.
MARION COUNTY SEX CASE
In addition to the murder charge in Baxter County, Wren is accused of having sex with a then 15-year-old male Flippin High School student in Marion County.
It is alleged Wren had sex with the teen during a period when she was a substitute teacher in at least two of his classes.
When she was interviewed by Senior Special Agent Becky Vacco of the Crimes Against Children Division of the Arkansas State Police, Wren admitted being a substitute teacher for schools in Baxter and Marion counties.
When the questioning turned to whether she had been substituting during the period when she and the juvenile victim allegedly had sex, Wren broke off the interview by invoking her right to have an attorney present during questioning.
She pled not guilty to the charges.
A jury trial is set for Jan. 18 in the Marion County case. Bayless will also apparently represent Wren in the sex case.
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