Sheldon murder suspects in court on Dec. 21

A hearing for the two men charged with the murders of a Carthage couple more than a year ago has been bumped from this coming Monday morning to late December.

Darren Winans, 22, Jasper and Matthew Laurin, 20, Springfield, are scheduled to appear at a criminal motions hearing at 8:30 a.m. Monday, Dec. 21 before Jasper County Circuit Court Judge Gayle L. Crane in Joplin, just four days before Christmas.

The four Sheldon children and their families have attended every scheduled court date, even on the days when those events have been postponed. Such delays, in which there have already been many since the two men were arrested earlier this year by the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, are simple byproducts of the U.S. judicial system.

The Dec. 21 date is key because Judge Crane is expected to decide whether Winans and Laurin will be tried together, as all their appearances have been conducted so far, or their times spent before judge and jury will be completely separate judicial affairs.

A few months ago, Daniel Sheldon, the youngest of the four Sheldon children, said he was recently told the murder trial, whether one to two entities, could drag on for as long as 2011 or 2012.

All four of the children have made a commitment to sit on the front row of courtroom each time the two men are scheduled to appear for a hearing or court procedure. In fact, Bob and Ellen’s daughter, Cara Housh, makes it down to Missouri from her Texas home during each procedure.

Back in October, Judge Crane denied a request for a change of venue from Jasper County to another area of the state, an action Jasper County Sheriff Archie Dunn told the The Press he desperately didn’t want to see happen.

Winans and Laurin face first-degree murder charges in connection with the Oct. 11 slayings of Bob and Ellen Sheldon of Carthage inside their home, which sits adjacent to the popular Old Cabin Shop located west of Carthage on Black Powder Road. The couple, first married in 1957, had owned the Old Cabin Shop, a gun and archery store, for more than 50 years.

Aside from the two counts of murder, the two men also face charges of armed criminal action and burglary.