New date set for Wren murder trial

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Photo: Savannah Wren

A new trial date has been set for a woman charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of then 19-year-old Chaseton Lewter.

Twenty-two-year-old Savannah Nicole Wren appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday, and a new trial date of May 9 was announced for her case.

Retired Circuit Judge Gordon Webb was on the bench. He is handling a number of cases in Baxter, Boone and Marion counties on assignment by the Arkansas Supreme Court.

In all, Judge Webb has been given 20 cases, six of them in Baxter County. His assignment was made in an attempt to clear a backlog of cases caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The cases assigned to Judge Webb are ones that are expected to take the longest to try.

Wren is represented by Mountain Home attorney Paul Bayless. A Gassville attorney, Cody Dennis, had initially made an entry of appearance in the case but has not been directly involved for some time and recently filed a formal motion to withdraw.

A second case is set for the same week, and Judge Webb said during Monday’s session it might have to be moved to accommodate the Wren murder trial.

The other trial now scheduled during the week of May 9 is that of Roger Lynn Hicks Jr., whose charges include rape, second-degree sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a minor.

THE MURDER

In the early morning hours of Nov. 24, 2020, Mountain Home police were called to an address along Cooper Estates Drive, where a male was reported to have been shot.

Police found Lewter in the back bedroom with an apparent gunshot wound to his forehead.

He was first taken to Baxter Regional Medical Center and then flown to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, where he died.

Wren was reported to be the resident at the Cooper Estates Drive address. She fled on foot, before police arrived.

Investigators were told by two people, who had been at Wren’s residence when the incident took place, that the Mountain Home woman shot Lewter.

She was tracked to a location in Marion County, where she was arrested.

MARION COUNTY SEX CASE

In addition to the murder charge in Baxter County, Wren is accused of having sex with a then 15-year-old male Flippin High School student in Marion County.

It is alleged Wren had sex with the teen during a period when she was a substitute teacher in at least two of his classes.

When she was interviewed by Senior Special Agent Becky Vacco of the Crimes Against Children Division of the Arkansas State Police, Wren admitted being a substitute teacher for schools in Baxter and Marion counties.

When the questioning turned to whether she had been substituting during the period when she and the juvenile victim allegedly had sex, Wren broke off the interview by invoking her right to have an attorney present during questioning.

Cody Dennis also put in the initial entry of appearance in the Marion County case, but has since withdrawn.

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