PHOENIX (Court TV) — Attorneys representing six defendants accused of beating a teenager to death after a Halloween party say they aren’t prepared for trial because reluctant witnesses aren’t being interviewed.
All seven suspects, referred to as the ‘Gilbert Goons,’ were back in court. The suspects are accused in the murder of Preston Lord, a 16-year-old who was beaten at a Halloween party and later died. (Court TV)
Jacob Meisner, 17, Treston Billey, 18, Dominic Turner, 20, Taylor Sherman, 19, Talan Renner, 17 and Talyn Vigil, 17, are each charged with felony murder and kidnapping in the death of Preston Lord, 16.
Meisner’s case was severed from that of the other five defendants, who will all stand trial together; Meisner’s trial — scheduled to begin first — was supposed to start in October, but both the prosecution and Meisner’s defense said at a hearing on Tuesday that date just isn’t possible. Meisner’s attorney, Andrew Mercantel, explained that prosecutors initially gave a list of 320 possible witnesses in the case. While that list has been narrowed to 50, prosecutors have completed only 21 interviews.
Mercantel said prosecutors insisted on scheduling all the interviews themselves, which meant they needed to coordinate with the attorneys for all six defendants. “The obstacle that we are facing is aligning all the availability,” prosecutors said Tuesday.
The availability issues weren’t caused by Meisner’s team, Mercantel said, noting that in September he listed his availability for interviews as “literally any day in the month of September except for one day. And this includes after-hours availability, which, in fact, many of the witnesses who have already been interviewed have been interviewed after hours and into the night,” he said. “We’ll even schedule it on weekends if they want to schedule it on weekends. We are available.”
But Mercantel said the issue went beyond availability, describing many of the teen witnesses as reluctant to speak with either the defense or the state. “A number of the witnesses are teenagers who want nothing to do with the proceedings in this case. The state has even told us on a few occasions they’ve been hung up on by witnesses that they’re contacting.”
While the teenagers were eyewitnesses to what happened, Mercantel described their statements as changing over time and said many were either drunk, high or both at the party. One witness, Mercantel said, now says he “technically lied” when he said that Meisner attacked Lord. Mercantel said the witness’s current story is that he never saw Meisner anywhere near the attack. “This prosecution of Jacob Meisner is based on lies,” Mercantel said.
16-year-old Preston Lord died two days after he was attacked outside a Halloween party. (Queen Creek Police Department)
Mercantel had requested a six-month continuance, while prosecutors urged Judge Sam Myers to delay Meisner’s trial until January. Bryn DeFusco, representing Lord’s family, said either delay was unacceptable. “Every time this case is pushed back, my clients endure further harm at the hands of the justice system,” she said. “They’re forced to relive what happened without knowing when justice will actually be served.”
Myers agreed to reschedule Meisner’s trial, but not by much. “I can’t understand how it would take months to do 30 interviews,” he said. “I feel like y’all can do 30 interviews in the next six weeks.”
Myers scheduled Meisner’s trial to begin on Nov. 3, 2026.
The attorneys for the other five defendants also asked to postpone their trial, citing the same difficulties as the Meisner team. Myers rescheduled their trial to begin Nov. 17 but acknowledged that date was likely to change depending on whether Meisner’s trial was still ongoing.
A seventh defendant, William Hines, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve 12 years in prison for his role in Lord’s death.
