Ken Atkinson, left, and Nathan Detroit II.

A judge denied a request for a new attorney from accused murderer Ken Atkinson and scheduled the next hearing in the murder-for-hire case for June, at which point a trial date could be set.

Atkinson, 57, and co-defendant Nathan Shane Detroit II, 31, are accused in the killing of Bend couple Ray Atkinson Jr. and Natasha “Tasha” Newby in August 2020. Fourteen months later, the pair was picked up in coordinated arrests in Bend and Redmond, with prosecutors calling the killings a murder-for-hire scheme.

Since their arrest, Detroit and Ken Atkinson have been held in the Deschutes County jail on four counts each of second-degree murder and two each of conspiracy to commit murder. They have yet to plead not guilty, though Ken Atkinson has denied involvement in court filings.

Atkinson is a former Nevada prison guard who grew up in Bend and has lived in the county off and on since the 1980s. Detroit is his nephew. Detroit has numerous local convictions for drug possession, identity theft and driving without a license. It’s Ken Atkinson’s first criminal case.

Detroit’s first court-appointed attorney, Shawn Kollie, requested in October that he be allowed to withdraw from the case. Kollie cited three potential witnesses who are former clients his firm has represented.

Because ethical obligations require attorneys to support clients even after cases conclude, courts often try to avoid assigning court-appointed defense attorneys to cases where they might have to cross-examine former clients.

On Jan. 28, Ken Atkinson filed a motion with the court seeking new counsel. In it, he is highly critical of the work of his Bend-based attorney, Dylan Potter, who was appointed to represent him at arraignment in October.

In the time since, the two have met four times for a total of 2.5 hours, Atkinson wrote.

“I make this motion not for the purpose of delay but rather to obtain counsel that has the time, experience and ambition to represent me in this case,” he wrote.

Ken Atkinson further requested an attorney from outside the area.

“I would further request that out of area counsel be appointed as the State’s witnesses all seem to be convicted criminals which have had court-appointed attorneys in Central Oregon,” Ken Atkinson wrote.

On Friday, a short hearing was held in which Deschutes County Circuit Judge Ray Crutchley denied Atkinson’s motion, meaning Potter remains Ken Atkinson’s attorney for now.

Potter declined to comment, as did Detroit’s new court-appointed attorney, Elizabeth JC Baker.

Online, friends of the couple called it a Cain and Abel-style killing.

Ken and Ray Jr. share a father, Ray Sr., who lived for five decades in a home on NE 12th St.

Ray Atkinson Sr. was said to favor his younger son, who along with Newby spent considerable time in the father’s cluttered home at the base of Pilot Butte.

When Ray Sr. died without a will in 2019 at age 80, the brothers fought in court over his $400,000 estate.

A judge ultimately ruled that the brothers be made co-representatives of the estate. The division of assets was ongoing at the time of Ray Jr.’s death.

Jonathan Woodstock, Ray Jr.’s half-brother on his mother’s side, is upset the case is moving so slowly.

Woodstock is also Ray Jr.’s designated heir in the ongoing battle over Ray Sr.’s estate.

Woodstock said Ken Atkinson was recently awarded $60,000 from the estate. He asks why the state provided him an attorney when he has money to afford one.

“He is paying a probate lawyer to fight me in court,” Woodstock wrote to The Bulletin. “Saying I do not deserve anything and that he wants all of the money. So why is the state paying for his lawyer?”

Newby’s father, David, is a superintendent for an electrical construction company in Mississippi. He keeps up to date on the case in Oregon but said he tries to not worry about it. His thoughts now are often with his wife, who suffers from chronic respiratory failure and is in need of a lung transplant.

“I know something’s going to happen one way or another,” he said. “I mean, everybody knew who did it from the very beginning. There’s no question.”

David Newby said his family has asked the Deschutes County District Attorney’s office to not deal with either defendant. He only wants the men to suffer in prison for the rest of their lives.

“He’s a weak man and he won’t make it very long in prison,” he said of Ken Atkinson. “He’s got weak character.”