GOSHEN — Three suspects in a November robbery-murder have been given a May trial date.
Ashley Seabolt, 41, Stephonn Sutton, 36, and Sami Hussen, 38, are all charged with the murder of Toby Ray Fisher on Nov. 26. Police found the 32-year-old Elkhart man outside River Run Apartments with a gunshot wound to the neck.
Fisher died at the scene despite attempts to give him medical help. Seabolt, Sutton and Hussen were charged last week in connection with the killing.
Investigators believe the incident was a drug deal and robbery that turned fatal.
Police say Seabolt and Fisher had arranged the plan ahead of time, to rob Hussen and another woman of the drugs they were selling and to take other valuables from them. Sutton was in the same vehicle at the time and had been picked up in Michigan along with Fisher, according to police.
Hussen is suspected of actually pulling the trigger, which the other woman told investigators was an act of self-defense. Homicide detectives were led to the three suspects based on witness testimony, security camera footage and text messages between Seabolt and Fisher.
During their initial court appearances Thursday in Elkhart County Circuit Court, Judge Michael Christofeno entered a not-guilty plea for them and appointed the public defender’s office to represent each of them. He remarked that with three co-defendants, the office will have to ensure there are no conflicts of interest before assigning attorneys.
The judge informed them that murder carries a prison term of up to 65 years. He set a preliminary jury trial date of May 5 for each of them.