COLORADO SPRINGS — Letecia Stauch, who is accused of murdering her stepson, will be advised of a new charge she is facing and be back in court for status hearings this week.
Gannon Stauch, 11, was reported missing in January by his stepmother who said he had gone to a friends house and did not return home. Weeks later, a body found in Florida was identified as the boy.She was arrested on March 2 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, as a result of thousands of hours spent in the investigation and searching for Gannon.
The court announced Stauch is facing a solicitation to escape charge in a new case after being accused of writing notes to an inmate in the El Paso County Jail with plans to escape. The affidavit for this charge states a deputy with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office was approached by the inmate on May 18 about the notes she received from Stauch.
The inmate told the deputy that Stauch would pass her and other inmates notes by sliding them under the door or through the door jam, according to the affidavit. The deputy wrote that she was told Stauch planned to escape from a window and had measured herself.
The document states Stauch is not to be housed with other inmates at the jail. Read the full affidavit here.
Preliminary hearing postponed
Stauch's preliminary hearing and proof-evident presumption great hearing were previously scheduled for Friday, June 5, and Monday, June 8. These court dates are still scheduled for her case, but they will be using these dates to have status hearings where both the defense and prosecution will discuss the case.
The defense filed a motion on May 18 to delay her upcoming hearings due to COVID-19.
Stauch's defense team said in the first motion that she is "unable to meet with her defense counsel due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions at the Colorado Springs Criminal Justice Center" and that the "pandemic has prevented the defense from adequately preparing for this hearing."
The defense claimed the jail allowed them to meet with Stauch through online videos for one to two hours at a time, approximately three to four days a week. Stauch's team said this was permitted from March 11 to May 4.
Then, on May 4, for reasons that were not made clear to the defense, the Criminal Justice Center suddenly stopped allowing video visitation for professional visits to inmates. The remainder of this sentence has been redacted.
The defense also said the jail staff told them the only way to speak with Stauch was to physically go to the jail and meet with her in an attorney room with glass in between counsel and Stauch. They said they have not been permitted to conduct a video visit with Stauch since April 30.
In a separate motion, the defense team asked for video access to their client, Stauch. It referenced May 4 again, the day when a member of the defense tried to schedule a video visit with Stauch, and the jail refused it because all inmates with her security designation were prohibited from the online visitation system. That's when the defense was told they must visit Stauch in person.
Stauch's defense team did not physically enter the jail because of concerns about COVID-19.
For more information on the motions filed, click here.
