Letecia Stauch to get new attorney in murder trial after dismissing previous counsel

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Letecia Stauch, facing first-degree murder charges for the death of her 11-year-old stepson Gannon Stauch, now has a new court date that indicates she'll be represented by an attorney in her upcoming trial, following her request to represent herself.

Her new court appearance is labeled as an "Appearance of Counsel" and is scheduled for May 5. Court documents obtained by KRDO show District Court Judge Gregory Werner re-appointed Stauch attorneys with the Public Defender Office last week. This happening shortly after Stauch wrote a letter to Judge Werner requesting to have attorneys represent her. However, in her letter, she asked to be represented by state attorneys and not by a public defender.

Colorado Springs criminal defense attorney Jeremy Loew says it's possible that during the next hearing where Stauch will be re-appointed with her attorneys she may change her mind and ask to represent herself once again.

Stauch had previously dismissed her attorneys and opted to represent herself at trial.

In February, a judge granted Stauch's request to represent herself at trial. Since then, security concerns restricted her access to all the evidence in the case to prepare. Of the roughly 26,000 pages of evidence, she was only allowed about 1,800 pages in her cell. She could only look through the majority of her case's evidence during her two 2-hour law library appearances, which she recently lost the privilege to attend after refusing to go.

Stauch wrote a letter to Judge Werner at the end of February claiming she had diagnosed mental illness, and the doctors who deemed her competent to stand trial were actors.

Stauch is facing a slew of charges, including first-degree murder, for the death of her stepson in early 2020. Read a timeline of the alleged killing here.

She is expected to begin preliminary hearings on May 20, 2021.