A Spokane County Superior Court judge sharply criticized two public defenders and removed them from a murder case plagued by a series of delays.
Judge Jacquelyn High-Edward ripped into Stephanie Cady and Lindsey Wheat, who both work for Spokane County’s Counsel for Defense, after they chose to take time off through the Family and Medical Leave Act days before the start of the first-degree murder trial of Cynthia L. Khaleel, 39, who was charged in 2024 with fatally stabbing and shooting her ex-boyfriend, 40-year-old Justin Daniel.
The judge noted that their removal from the case was necessary even though it will further delay Khaleel’s trial.
High-Edward’s written order removing Cady and Wheat “ends one of the most shocking campaigns to frustrate the justice system seen by this Court,” the judge wrote. “It is an ending that was forced by Ms. Cady’s and Ms. Wheat’s flagrant disrespect for their client, the Court, our community, and their profession.”
In a criminal trial that has been delayed more than 10 times, High-Edward outlined the requests by Cady and Wheat seeking more time. The judge’s order was a scathing rebuke to their representation of Khaleel, 39, who was exonerated by a jury in 2018 for a different killing.
In that case, prosecutors claimed that Khaleel fractured the skull of her 5-year-old adoptive nephew, Gary Blanton III, in 2015. But the jury found Khaleel not guilty.
Then two years ago, Khaleel was charged with the killing of Justin Daniel, who on April 13, 2024, called police to report that his ex-girlfriend, Khaleel, had come to his home in violation of a no-contact order.
At the time, the former couple was engaged in a legal dispute over the couple’s 3-year-old daughter. A month earlier, Daniel had been granted full custody.
But when deputies arrived at Daniel’s home in April 2024, they found him dead. He suffered 48 stabbing and three gunshot wounds.
Khaleel later was arrested and charged with first-degree aggravated murder, which means she faces the potential of life in prison without possibility of parole.
But since that time, the case has suffered a series of delays despite a trial setting for earlier this month.
“Over the past four weeks, defense counsel has filed four motions to continue and two motions to withdraw,” Judge High-Edward wrote. “Both motions were filed on the morning trial was set to start.”
When High-Edward denied those motions, Wheat then left on paid leave “with no notice to Ms. Khaleel,” the judge continued.
Cady went on leave March 29 when the trial had been set to start on May 4. Wheat then sought more time before going on leave herself before May 18, which is the latest date the trial was set to begin.
“Upon inquiry, Ms. Khaleel, who appeared stunned, confused, and terrified, felt that she had no choice but to request new counsel because she had no idea what was happening,” High-Edward wrote. “The Court now takes the opportunity to explicitly find that Ms. Cady’s and Ms. Wheat’s behavior has been evasive, obstructionist, litigious, and contemptuous since March 27, 2026.”
The judge also found that the attorneys, who are public defenders but work for an office that handles cases when a conflict of interest from previous representation exists, had purposefully made delay requests that had no basis in fact or law.
“Although removing Ms. Cady and Ms. Wheat as counsel will significantly delay resolution in the case, the Court is left with no option but to grant Ms. Khaleel’s request due to Ms. Cady’s and Ms. Wheat’s conduct,” High-Edward wrote.
Efforts to reach Deputy Spokane County Prosecutor Dale Nagy, who is prosecuting Khaleel, were not immediately successful on Wednesday.
Victoria Blumhorst, who directs the Counsel for Defense, said it was unfortunate that the case reached this point.
“It is disheartening when prosecutors and judges with no criminal defense experience believe they can dictate when a defense attorney is or should be ready to proceed to trial especially in cases which with such high stakes as this,” she said.
Julie Humphreys, spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office, noted that prosecutors rarely discuss cases that are pending.
The judge’s ruling “means we can now set a realistic trial date and move forward,” Humphreys said.
