EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KXRM) — Monday, March 20, is when the trial and jury selection process is set to begin for Letecia Stauch, who is accused of killing her 11-year-old stepson Gannon.
Stauch was present in court on Thursday for a pretrial readiness conference, where Judge Gregory Werner asked Stauch if she would be “dressing out” for the trial, to which Stauch responded that she is choosing to wear her inmate jumpsuit.
Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen said that despite not having the final sanity report from a defense expert in hand, the prosecution still wanted to move forward with the set trial date of March 20.
Allen said the prosecution’s hope is to receive the report prior to March 20 so its team can have experts from the state hospital interpret the findings.
The defense said it would continue doing all it could to get the report to the people and the court by the deadline, and understood the court’s concerns. The defense also stated it had dropped off a flash drive to the prosecution and was unaware that everything was not turned over.
Werner ordered that the defense expert submit the final sanity report to the court by Thursday, March 16, at 5 p.m.
“It is not a suggestion, it is not a guideline, it is not a hope, it is a deadline,” Werner said.
Another concern brought up by the prosecution was the potential for an MRI request from the defense for Stauch. The defense responded that it was frantically working on when that could be done. Werner said he was puzzled as to why an MRI had not been conducted prior and also why it was taking so long to get a final report from the doctor.
“It is what it is, and we will deal with it as best we can … Be ready for trial on March 20 and we will see where we go,” Werner said.
On Feb. 11, 2022, Stauch was granted a change of plea to not guilty by reason of insanity.
On March 20, a jury selection process is set to begin. The presentation of evidence is then set to follow on April 3.