Dates set for Warren murder trials

A judge on Friday set trial dates for two teens charged with killing a gay black man in Grant Town, W.Va., last year, The Charleston [W. Va.] Gazette reports. Judge David Janes ruled that David Allen Parker will stand trial on March 26 for the murder of Arthur “J.R.” Warren. Codefendant Jared Matthew Wilson will be tried on May 29, Janes ordered. Warren was beaten, kicked, and finally run over by a car in an attempt to make his death look like a hit-and-run accident. Investigators say that Parker was upset with Warren, who was developmentally delayed, after Warren told other people that he and Parker had had sex. Wilson reportedly told investigators that he briefly helped Parker beat Warren because he was afraid that Parker would turn on him if he didn’t. Neither trial will be held in Marion County, W.Va., where the murder took place, because of the difficulty in finding an impartial jury.