CHARLESTON, W.Va. — There are now trial dates in two high-profile criminal cases in Kanawha County.
Those dates were set following arraignments Monday in Kanawha County Circuit Court. A grand jury handed up indictments last week.
Barack Williams, 15, was arraigned on first degree murder and first degree robbery charges in last February’s death of Caden Martin, 19, at a North Charleston tobacco shop. He pleaded not guilty. The teenage shooter, Bre’juan Williams-Hampton, pleaded guilty in September.
Williams will go on trial beginning Feb. 24.
In a separate case, Jeanne Whitefeather and Donald Lantz also pleaded not guilty during their arraignments Monday.
They were named in a 20-count superseding indictment in connection with allegedly locking their adopted teenage children in a shed in the Sissonville area last year.
The couple is accused of child neglect creating a risk of substantial injury, human trafficking and an array of other charges.
“As we investigate cases it is not uncommon that we find more criminal conduct in the investigative materials that we receive and that has happened in this instance,” Kanawha County Prosecutor Debra Rusnak told MetroNews last week. “We felt it appropriate to add additional charges and to make sure we are holding accountable for every action they have perpetrated.”
Whitefeather and Lantz are now scheduled to go on trial beginning Feb. 13.
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers conducted Monday’s arraignments.
Photo of Monday’s arraignment courtesy WCHS-TV.