INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – A plea deal with the lead suspect in the 2012 south side explosion is not expected in advance of his scheduled June trial, Marion County Prosecutors said Wednesday.

The statement came one month after defense attorneys announced that prosecutors rejected a previous plea offer they had put on the table. Details of that previous offer from Mark Leonard have not been made public.

Leonard, his half-brother Bob Leonard, Jr., Monserrate Shirley, Gary Thompson and Glenn Hults are all charged in connection with the November 2012 house explosion at Richmond Hill that killed Dion and Jennifer Longworth and damaged or destroyed more than 80 homes.

Following an administrative hearing in the case in Indianapolis Wednesday, Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Denise Robinson again said she anticipates the trial will begin as scheduled on June 4 in St. Joseph County. The case was moved there amid concerns over intense media coverage in central Indiana.

“I can’t talk about plea agreements ethically. I can’t talk about anything that’s done outside the courtroom in that context. All I can say is: we’ve got our subpoenas out. We’ve got our hotel reservations made. We’ve made arrangements for the evidence to go to South Bend. We’re going to be prepared to go to trial,” Robinson said.EVIDENCE CHALLENGES

Disagreements also remained Wednesday over what should be allowed as evidence at that trial.

Leonard’s defense team began the hearing by asking Judge John Marnocha that a separate charge of conspiracy to commit murder be ruled inadmissible at the main trial in June. Prosecutors allege Leonard tried to hire a hitman from behind bars in the Marion County Jail to have a key witness in the case killed.

His attorneys argue jurors could be unfairly prejudiced by knowing about that charge, which is likely to be tried separately from the main case.

Robinson said she will fight to have it included.

“I think the importance to the defense of that evidence is how strongly they’re trying to keep it out,” she said. “It’s another piece of the evidence. If we didn’t have it, we’d still be trying this case. But, as I indicated, I think the jury is entitled to hear all of the evidence. And, that includes this particular evidence.”

Leonard’s attorneys have also asked that evidence of Leonard’s alleged involvement in prior ‘insurance scams’ be barred from trial, but that character evidence on witnesses like Robert Smith, a jailhouse informant used by prosecutors, be allowed to be introduced at trial.

Judge John Marnocha agreed to take all requests under advisement. He ruled earlier this month that incriminating statements made about Mark Leonard by Bob Leonard before he was read his Miranda rights will not be admissible at trial.

That ruling will not hinder the state’s case, Robinson said Wednesday.

“As I indicated when we were in South Bend making that argument, there was not much I would have intended to use from those – if anything – at the outset,” she said.TRIAL LOGISTICS

Judge Marnocha also addressed a number of logistical issues surrounding the trial, which is anticipated to take at least six weeks to complete.

At least 280 potential jurors will be summoned for jury selection. Seventy will be called each day. But, prosecutors said Wednesday they don’t anticipate it will take all four days to seat an acceptable jury of 18 people, comprised of 12 jurors and six alternates.

“I don’t think that’s going to be necessary in South Bend. I think his 140 (potential jurors called) for the first two days is more realistic. Obviously, you always get some people who don’t show up. But, I think the 200-some would be too few if this trial would be held in Indianapolis. So, I think the judge is just making sure we have enough jurors to go to trial,” Robinson said.

Once jurors are selected, Judge Marnocha said Wednesday he does not intend to sequester them, except during deliberations.

Leonard’s defense team also asked that he be transported to the St. Joseph County Jail by May 29, in preparation for what will likely be the most extensive and expensive trial in Marion County history.

“We’ve had time to prepare for this, and, as I’ve said, we anticipate going to trial on June 4,” Robinson said. “We’ll be ready.”

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The so-called fifth suspect in the 2012 south side explosion at Richmond Hill bonded out of the Marion County Jail Monday afternoon, jail records show.

Glenn Hults, 48, was charged earlier this month with one felony count of conspiracy to commit arson.

A judge agreed to reduce his bond Friday from $100,000 to $50,000. The bond is a ‘surety’ bond which required Hults to post 10 percent, or $5,000. He also agreed to wear a GPS monitoring device while awaiting trial.

Prosecutors allege that Hults was part of a conspiracy behind the explosion in the Richmond Hill neighborhood that killed Dion and Jennifer Longworth and damaged nearly 80 homes in November 2012.

Hults attorney, Ralph Staples, said Friday that his scheduled June 15 trial date would likely be delayed if Hults was able to post bond.

Hults is scheduled to appear in court again for a pre-trial hearing on June 10.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Bond was reduced Friday from $100,000 to $50,000 for Glenn Hults, the so-called fifth suspect in the 2012 south side explosion at Richmond Hill.

Hults, 48, was charged earlier this month with one felony count of conspiracy to commit arson.

Prosecutors allege that Hults was part of a conspiracy behind the explosion in the Richmond Hill neighborhood that killed Dion and Jennifer Longworth and damaged nearly 80 homes in November 2012.

As he walked back to jail following a brief bond reduction hearing Friday, Hults didn’t answer questions about whether he could afford to put up the reduced bond amount.

But, he did speak to 24-Hour News 8 for the first time.

“All I can say is I miss my wife and kids,” Hults said quietly, handcuffed to a line of other inmates headed back to the jail.

Hults attorney, Ralph Staples, asked the judge for the advisory bond amount tied to his single felony charge: $20,000. But, after court adjourned, Staples said reducing the bond by half was a fair compromise.

“It’s pursuant to the local rule. So, not a surprise. We don’t know (if his family will be able to post that amount). We’re working on that right now,” Staples said.

In court, Staples argued that Hults’ original bond amount was unnecessarily high for someone who has maintained a home in Marion County for more than 15 years, and who has held a job during that entire time. Hults’ conviction on a misdemeanor battery charge in 2005 should be weighed against the fact that he was successfully discharged from probation just four months later, Staples told the Judge.

Prosecutors countered by asking Judge Sheila Carlisle to set a bond “appropriate to the nature of this case.”

Following the hearing, Deputy Prosecutor Denise Robinson said she had no problem with the judge’s decision.

“Bond is to insure a defendant’s appearance at trial. It’s not intended to reflect on anyone’s guilt or innocence. That’s its sole purpose. And, I believe the judge fairly weighed all factors,” Robinson said.

If Hults posts bond, he must agree to wear a GPS monitoring device while awaiting trial. Jail records showed he was still incarcerated Friday afternoon.

“Assuming our client makes bond, there will likely be a delay [in his scheduled June 15 trial date]. If his family is unable to come up with that money, then we’re looking at a June trial date. We’ll be ready either way. The allegations against him aren’t all that complicated. It’s the others who have those issues. As I’ve said before, he’s accused of having a conversation with someone,” Staples said.

Meanwhile, focus for prosecutors shifts to South Bend, where Hults co-defendant Mark Leonard’s trial is scheduled to begin on June 6.

Though Robinson acknowledged she has plenty of planning work ahead, she said that date is unlikely to change.

“We still have lots to do: making sure witnesses are subpoenaed, making sure they have transportation arrangements, meeting with those witnesses,” Robinson said. “Just the magnitude of lining up that sheer number of witnesses (is monumental). We have to line them up and then get them up to South Bend. Then, we still have the mechanics of getting the evidence up there and that sort of thing too. But, we’re ready to go.”

Hults is scheduled to appear in court again for a pre-trial hearing on June 10.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) Bond was set Wednesday at $100,000 for Glenn Hults, the so-called 5th suspect in the 2012 south side explosion at Richmond Hill.

Hults, 48, was charged Tuesday with one felony count of conspiracy to commit arson.

• FULL COVERAGE | Richmond Hill explosion case

Prosecutors say he was part of a conspiracy behind the explosion in the Richmond Hill neighborhood that killed Dion and Jennifer Longworth and damaged nearly 80 homes in November 2012.INITIAL APPEARANCE

As he appeared in court for the first time Wednesday, Hults’ attorneys asked Judge Sheila Carlisle to reduce his bond.

“We believe the bond is unnecessarily high for someone who has lived here for a long time, who has worked uninterruptedly, and has no significant criminal history. He has a misdemeanor battery charge in his history, that’s it,” said Hults’ attorney Ralph Staples.

A bond reduction hearing is set for next Friday.

Following the conclusion of his five-minute initial appearance, Staples also argued that Hults never should have been charged in the first place.

“Conspiracy is one of those powerful arrows in quiver of the prosecutor. Sometimes they hit the target. Sometimes they shouldn’t even shoot at the target. In the movie Goodfellas, when Paulie is talking to Henry, he says: some guy goes to jail for the rest of his life just because he said hi to someone? It happens,” Staples said.CONSPIRACY ALLEGATIONS

But, prosecutors claim Hults was involved in a plot from the very start.

As I-Team 8 was first to report in January, the scope of Hults’ alleged involvement was first publicly revealed by Monserrate Shirley after she agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors in early January 2015.

As part of that plea agreement Shirley agreed to testify against her co-defendants, and named Hults during interviews as having first had conversations with her boyfriend at the time Mark Leonard on July 4, 2012 about plans to set fire to Shirley’s house. This conversation occurred, Shirley testified, while the three were attending a pool party at a home near Geist Reservoir.

Shirley said she and Leonard had been invited to the party by Hults, who she described as Leonard’s “friend.” According to court documents, Leonard asked Hults to convince Shirley that it would be “easy” to submit an insurance claim if she had a fire in her house.

“He was active in encouraging Ms. Shirley to participate,” said Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Denise Robinson following Wednesday’s hearing. “And, we also know from the affidavit that he kept (Shirley’s daughter) on three consecutive weekends–the weekends that (the explosion attempt) failed and then the weekend when it succeeded.”

Hults hasn’t denied that he allowed the teen girl to stay over at his house, nor that he was acquainted with his now co-defendants.

But, court records cast questions about how deep the acquaintance truly went. In the charging documents against him, Hults admitted to detectives that that he had received a check for $70,000 from his insurance company after a fire in his own home that he attributed to a faulty tanning bed. He told detectives that Gary Thompson, the man charged as the fourth suspect in the Richmond Hill explosion case, installed the tanning bed and had done other electrical work at his house.

Staples declined to comment on the previous fire, saying he hadn’t spoken with Hults about it.

But, he claimed much of prosecutors’ case against Hults is circumstantial, and based on Shirley’s word against Hults’.

“Conversations are just that: words. In order to prove a conspiracy you have to have some intentional action. Knowledge ain’t enough,” Staples said.CHARGING DELAYS

Asked why he thought charges had been filed nearly four months after Shirley’s initial testimony about Hults’ alleged involvement, Staples paused.

“Political office holders are under pressure to do things. And, they’ve said numerous times: we’re going to investigate and investigate and round up everybody that’s involved. So, I’m not surprised,” he said.

But Robinson claimed the delay was due to the logistics of their investigation.

“Primarily it was to get Ms. Shirley sworn and take her deposition, which was just completed about a week ago. There was always that consideration (to file charges against Hults). We don’t just rely on he said/she said. We have corroborated some of the facts, and based on that corroboration, we believed there was probable cause to proceed with the filing of the charge,” Robinson said.

Hults has asked to be tried separately from the other four defendants, a motion Robinson said she’s not likely to oppose.

He’s scheduled to appear in court again on June 10 to prepare for a June 15 trial date that prosecutors said is almost all but certain to be delayed.

In the meantime, Robinson called the possibility of a plea agreement in exchange for Hults’ testimony against the other four defendants unlikely. But, she stopped short of ruling one out.

Staples, on the other hand, was more direct.

“He’s already spoken with detectives,” he said. “He can’t tell the government what he doesn’t know.”

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – A fifth suspect is now charged in connection with the alleged conspiracy leading up to the 2012 south side explosion at Richmond Hill. Glenn Hults was arrested late Tuesday, jail records obtained by I-Team 8 show.

Hults, 48, faces one count of conspiracy to commit arson. Hults was expected to appear before Judge Sheila Carlisle for an initial hearing Wednesday at 1 p.m.

• FULL COVERAGE | Richmond Hill explosion case

He’s accused, along with Monserrate Shirley, Mark Leonard, Bob Leonard and Gary Thompson of being involved in a plot to set the explosion in the Richmond Hill neighborhood that killed Dion and Jennifer Longworth and damaged nearly 80 homes in November 2012. But, prosecutors were quick to point out they don’t believe Hults was involved in the explosion itself.

“Four other individuals charges were directly involved in explosion,” Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry told I-Team 8 Tuesday following the charges. “Mr. Hults is not alleged to be directly involved in the explosion itself, but on a more peripheral level, by agreeing to watch Monserrate Shirley’s daughter.”

Prosecutors allege Hults agreed to keep Shirley’s daughter overnight at his house on the weekend prior to the explosion. That initial explosion attempt failed, prosecutors have alleged.

“The weekend of October 27, he agreed to watch Ms. Shirley’s daughter, and he was doing so with the knowledge that he was doing so because there would be an attempt to burn her house on that evening,” Curry said.

As I-Team 8 was first to report in January, the scope of Hults’ alleged involvement in what prosecutors say was an explosion plot were first publicly revealed by Shirley after she agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors in early January 2015.

As part of that plea agreement Shirley agreed to testify against her co-defendants, and named Hults during interviews as having first had conversations with Mark Leonard on July 4, 2012 about plans to set fire to Shirley’s house. This conversation occurred, Shirley testified, while the three were attending a pool party at a home near Geist Reservoir.

Shirley said she and Leonard had been invited to the party by Hults, who she described as Leonard’s “friend.” According to court documents, Leonard asked Hults to convince Shirley that it would be “easy” to submit an insurance claim if she had a fire in her house.

Hults told detectives he “didn’t remember any conversations about setting arson fires” and didn’t remember Leonard ever asking him to tell Shirley how easy it was to get money from an insurance company after a house fire, according to court documents.

However, court records show Hults did admit to detectives that that he had received a check for $70,000 from his insurance company after a fire in his own home that he attributed to a faulty tanning bed. He told detectives that Gary Thompson, the man charged as the fourth suspect in the Richmond Hill explosion case, installed the tanning bed and had done other electrical work at his house.

Shirley told detectives she initially rejected the plan that July day, saying it was “too risky,” according to court documents.

As I-Team 8 reported in January, speculation surrounding the potential of a fifth suspect’s arrest swirled following the arrest of Thompson that month, but prosecutors refuted claims at the time that further charges were pending. With no new evidence introduced since then, Curry acknowledged that there may be questions about why charges were filed nearly four months later.

“Between the time that that information was provided to our deputy prosecutor and investigators through Ms. Shirley, there’s been some discussions between Glenn Hults and his counsel, and obviously that led to the charges being filed today,” Curry said.

Curry did not confirm whether a plea deal had been offered to Hults, or whether he had rejected such an offer.

Messages left seeking comment from Hults’ attorney were not returned Tuesday.