All three defendants charged in a 2013 Highland Park murder will no longer go on trial Monday.
On Friday, Judge Victoria Rossetti set a new trial date of Aug. 10 for defendant Benjamin Schenk, of Highwood, at the request of Assistant Lake County State’s Attorney Reginald Mathews and defense attorney James Bertucci.
Schenk is one of three people charged in the murder of Highland Park resident Colin Nutter. In other recent hearings, defendant Michael Coffee, of Highland Park, also was rescheduled to the Aug. 10 trial call, and a new trial date of Sept. 18 was set for defendant Philip Vatamaniuc, of Highland Park.
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The cases have been severed, and the potential trials will not be held jointly.
Schenk, Coffee and Vatamaniuc are accused of killing the 20-year-old Nutter in June 2013 during what prosecutors have described as a drug-related robbery. They are all charged with first-degree murder.
When trial dates were rescheduled earlier this year, potential plea deal negotiations were mentioned as one of the factors.
Mathews on Friday said none of the negotiations have resulted in an agreement but added that potential plea deals are still possible. He also said the state is ready to proceed to trial at any time.
After Friday’s hearing, Bertucci said he views all options, from a potential negotiated deal to trial, as still being open for Schenk.
The judge and attorneys plan to meet to discuss issues prior to Schenk’s next hearing on June 18.
Both Vatamaniuc and Schenk have been identified by prosecutors as potentially being the shooter in the case. Under state law, all three can be held accountable for first-degree murder if convicted at trial, but if one is convicted as having discharged the firearm, he could face an extended sentence well beyond the sentencing range of 20 to 60 years for murder.
According to investigators and prosecutors, Vatamaniuc, Coffee and Schenk arranged a marijuana deal with Nutter, who was shot and died of a gunshot wound to the head while all four were in a vehicle.
A jogger found Nutter’s body on June 3, 2013, in brush near the Edens Expressway south of the intersection of Old Glenview Road and Briar Drive in Wilmette.
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