Hearing for killer of Carthage couple may be delayed

An evidentiary hearing in convicted killer Darren Winans' ongoing attempt to have his sentence set aside and a trial ordered set for Wednesday before Jasper County Judge David Dally may not take place.

Online court documents indicate Dally rejected Winans' efforts to attend the hearing, but offered to delay the hearing if Winans' attorney wants to take a deposition from his client. The attorney, Karl Hinkebein, filed a motion for a continuance today.

Winans is attempting to have his sentence overturned even though he was the one who pleaded guilty to the brutal October 2008 murders of Bob and Ellen Sheldon, owners of the Old Cabin Shop in Carthage.

Winans, 24, pleaded guilty Feb. 28, 2011, to the crimes in a plea deal that kept him from facing the death penalty. His co-defendant, Matthew Laurin, Springfield, pleaded guilty earlier and then committed suicide in the Jasper County Jail.

Winans also received 20-year sentences on two armed criminal action charges and 15 year for burglary, with those sentences to run consecutively with the life sentences for killing the Sheldons.

The taxpayers are footing the bill for his appeal.