Attorneys withdraw from defending suspect in fatal shooting of Bradenton couple

The two attorneys defending one of three men charged in the fatal shooting of a Bradenton couple during a home invasion in July 2015 have withdrawn from his case.

Terez Jones, 34; Jimmie McNear, 19; and Trey Nonnombre, 19, were each indicted on two counts of first-degree murder and armed burglary of a dwelling in fatal shootings of Esther Deneus and her boyfriend, Kantral Markeith Brooks, both 29, during a home invasion. If convicted, each will face the death penalty or life in prison.

Just before 4 a.m. July 9, 2015, Deneus and Brooks were shot in their home in the 3900 block of Southern Parkway West in Bradenton. Police said the couple’s five children, between the ages of 1 and 11, were in the home at the time of the shootings and at least one was a witness.

On Friday morning — less than a week after the one-year anniversary of the murders — all three men appeared in court before Circuit Judge Diana Moreland for a case-management hearing.

Byron Hileman Jr. of the Office of Regional Counsel, and his unnamed co-chair were granted requests to withdraw as McNear’s attorney after citing ethical conflicts.

Circuit Judge Diana Moreland said she could find no case law to support questioning the conflict in order to find an alternative solution, so she accepted the withdrawals.

Hileman said he could not discuss the ethical conflict because the conversation with McNear was protected by attorney-client privilege.

The other attorneys involved assured Moreland efforts had been made to schedule or set aside time for depositions in the case.

Moreland set she would set the case for another case-management hearing once new attorneys were appointed for McNear, which she anticipated being a challenge since conflicts with appointing attorneys to the three defendants had already arisen previously. Until then, she said she didn’t anticipate much could be done to move the case along in the discovery process.

This story was originally published July 15, 2016 at 7:17 PM with the headline "Attorneys withdraw from defending suspect in fatal shooting of Bradenton couple."