Braden Smith pleads not guilty in fatal shooting of Roger and Melissa Bluml

Braden Smith, one of four people charged in the fatal shooting of a Valley Center-area couple, pleaded not guilty Monday during his arraignment in Sedgwick County District Court.

A trial technically has been set for Nov. 10 but is expected to be continued. Smith, who was escorted into and out of the courtroom in shackles, waived his rights to a speedy trial.

This summer, Smith, 19, made a plea deal with prosecutors that would reduce his capital-murder charge to two counts of second-degree intentional murder. In exchange, Smith agreed to testify against the other three defendants, Anthony Bluml, Andrew Ellington and Kisha Schaberg. She is Anthony Bluml’s biological mother.

The District Attorney’s Office said Monday that Bluml, 19, will be arraigned on Oct. 15, and Ellington on Nov. 20. Schaberg’s arraignment has not been set. The three will be arraigned on capital murder charges, meaning they could also face the death penalty.

Roger and Melissa Bluml both were shot in the head as they sat in a car outside their rural Valley Center home Nov. 15 in what Smith described in July as a scheme to get life insurance money and because their adopted son, Anthony Bluml, allegedly resented being kicked out of the family’s house for smoking marijuana, The Eagle has reported.

Melissa Bluml, 53, died at a Wichita hospital the next day. Her husband, who was 48, died from his injuries about five weeks later.

Smith testified he provided guns for Schaberg and Ellington to take with them on the night Roger and Melissa Bluml were shot.

Prosecutors will ask that a judge sentence Smith to 24.5 years, but a judge does not have to abide by terms of the plea deal.

This story was originally published October 6, 2014 at 2:20 PM with the headline "Braden Smith pleads not guilty in fatal shooting of Roger and Melissa Bluml."