The court entered a not a guilty plea Monday morning for the man accused of opening fire on a mother and her three children in what prosecutors said began with a fit of road rage.
The defense had asked the judge to delay the arraignment again and set a new hearing to address motions related to the mental health of their client.
The judge denied that, and the court entered a not guilty plea for Jeremy Webster. The judge set a trial for June. It's scheduled to start on June 12 and is expected to last at least 10 days.
Webster, 23, is charged with murder, attempted murder and assault for the violent June 14 altercation that left 13-year-old Vaughn Bigelow Jr. dead. The boy’s mother, Meghan Bigelow, and brother, Asa Bigelow, were seriously wounded in the attack.
A third child, Cooper Bigelow, was uninjured and received credit from investigators for helping law enforcement identify the suspect and his vehicle by unlocking his mom’s phone and showing them a photo she had taken moments before the shooting.
Another man, identified as John Gale, was shot while he was sitting in the car with his daughter waiting for her dentist appointment at one of the two offices near West 80th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard.
Webster was supposed to enter a plea during a hearing in late November, but at the time, Webster’s defense team asked for a 60-day continuance in the proceedings – something that was met with objections from prosecutors and the victims.
The judge ultimately agreed to push the arraignment back to Monday, January 7, at which point Webster is expected to enter a formal plea.
During testimony at a preliminary hearing in October 2018, detectives recounted an interview with Cooper Bigelow, who told police that Webster became angry at Meghan Bigelow when she tried to pull over for an emergency vehicle on Sheridan.
Webster is accused of following the Bigelow family’s car into the parking lot of the Cedarwood Square Office Complex at 5150 W. 80th Ave. and opening fire on the family. He is accused of shooting Vaughn Bigelow Jr. “execution-style” and then driving away in his Toyota Corolla. Prosecutors said Webster went to a Home Depot 30 minutes after the shooting to buy a saw, and went back to work for a brief period of time.
Webster was taken into custody on Interstate 25 near Castle Rock the afternoon of the shooting, and was apparently headed back home to Colorado Springs.
According to an arrest affidavit released this summer, Webster admitted to the attack and said he had mental health issues and had changed medication that day. A psychiatrist later confirmed to investigators that Webster was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and had been prescribed an anti-depressant and anti-psychotic.
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