Trial dates have finally been set for Arnett Baines and Cyler Shemwell, the two men accused of killing three people and severely injuring a fourth in a 2019 shooting on Audubon Avenue. The trials are scheduled for 2024, and the men will be tried separately.
Baines’ trial is scheduled to begin February 5, 2024. Shemwell’s is scheduled to start June 3, 2024. Judge Jay Wethington will preside over both cases.
Baines, now 33, and Shemwell, now 35, are both facing three counts of murder and one count of first-degree assault. They are charged in the shooting deaths of Robert D. Smith Jr., 35; Jay Michael Sowders, 43; and Christopher Carie, 18. A fourth person, Carman Vanegas, who was 35 at the time, was also shot in the head but survived. Bains also faces additional charges.
Shemwell’s defense counsel asked for their case to be tried after the one for Baines had been completed.
For more information about the incident and some of the defendants’ court appearances, read our previous coverage here.
