MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- An apparent scheduling mix-up by the 23rd Judicial Circuit public defender's office in Martinsburg caused court officials to again reschedule a hearing for a woman who was charged in November with animal cruelty and solicitation of prostitution.
After waiting for several minutes for Breshannon Deveraux's court-appointed attorney to appear for a 9:15 a.m. preliminary hearing, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Saunders told Magistrate W. Randy Smith in court that the public defender corporation's office in a courtroom telephone conversation indicated it didn't have the case on attorney Thomas Stanley's schedule.
Steve Greenbaum, an attorney with the public defender's office sent to fill in for Stanley, arrived at the courtroom at about 9:50 a.m. But by that time, Greenbaum was five minutes late for a 9:45 a.m. hearing in another case, which had been scheduled after the hearing for Deveraux, also in front of Smith.
At 10 a.m., court officials discovered that Deveraux was in a basement-level holding area of the judicial center and not available to meet with Greenbaum in the third-floor courtroom to discuss the situation.
