MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — A court hearing for a man charged with second-degree murder in the July 2011 death of a fellow Eastern Regional Jail inmate was postponed Tuesday to allow the state time to subpoena witnesses for the case.
Dewarren Bruce Jenkins, 25, of Oklahoma City, Okla., agreed to the state’s motion for a continuance of his scheduled preliminary probable-cause hearing in exchange for a lower bond. Jenkins is charged in the death of Melvin Cox, 53, of Bunker Hill, W.Va.
Jenkins’ bond was reduced from $50,000 cash-only to $25,000 cash or surety.
Berkeley County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Saunders told Berkeley County Magistrate Joan V. Bragg in Tuesday’s hearing that she only recently received the investigating police officer’s report for the case and that the report identified jail inmates who could be subpoenaed for the case.
Jenkins was arrested May 24 in Oklahoma, police have said.
The Virginia Medical Examiner’s office determined that Cox died of blunt-force trauma, police said.
