[Eroteme]

There could have been a second bail hearing, or, as I suspect, the article is merely confusing. It doesn't state the date on which the men were denied bail, just that they were. Because no date was specified in this article, it misleads the reader into thinking the bail hearing was just recently held.

Previous articles state that the men were arrested on Feb. 5 and denied bail at their hearing a few days later. Smith was killed just prior to that. So as far as I tell, these guys were all in jail when Smith was murdered.

I wouldn't be so quick to discount Smith's murder serving as a message to the other team members. The article only says that this suspect is expected to testify against his "co-defendants." My bet is that he won't give up the larger operation and its orchestrator. (Yep, it was just us 5. Ya got us all.)

Further, prosecutors can "expect" all they want. Ken Starr wasn't the first or the last to be snowed into exchanging immunity for crapola. Less cynically--there is the possibility that word of this "expected" testimony is disimformation. Perhaps a trap using the suspect as bait? (Lessons learned from Katherine Smith?)

[robertpaulsen]

Yeah, it appears that I caught this article late in the news cycle. After reading Shermy's extensive collection, it appears they were in jail at the time. The plot thickens.