Trails End Drive suspected double murder hit man and organizers back in court

Reporter: Olivia Jean
Published: Updated:

There are new developments in the murder-for-hire case that made headlines for weeks at the start of the year. The defendants are back in court.

Justin Casagranda is accused of killing Mario Schiano and Anthony Galeotti in Charlotte County back in January. Detectives say he was hired by two people to commit the deadly crime. Those two people are Schiano’s wife, Kelly Schiano, and Everett Harper.

All three of the defendants, showed up not physically in the courtroom today but through a screen at jail.

All three attorneys for the defendants gave similar updates during the status hearing. They are still in the process of collecting information to get ready for trial.

They said the discovery is ongoing, depositions and interviews are also ongoing with some needing to still be scheduled with both civilians and the sheriff’s office, and that they are waiting on test results from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The judge made it clear: he wants this homicide case to keep moving forward in a timely fashion.

One of the one of the defendants, Everett Harper, spoke out during court. He said he was frustrated with his attorney and that he asked him to be dismissed.

“I’ve been in here 10 months up to today, and I have not received one page of anything, and I had no communication with them,” Harper said.

Judge McFee said back to Harper that there’s a time and place for an attorney dismissal, but that time and place is in court. Harper’s attorney said he will meet with him soon.

The victim’s families were in the courtroom.

Case management is set for February, which could be when a trial date is set.

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