The defendant, Elliot Michael Bennett, submitted a motion to waive counsel on Sept. 23, 2024. If granted, this would relieve attorney Jeffery Swierski from representing Bennett. According to the court docket, Bennett is being charged with first -degree premeditated murder, first-degree burglary, and endangerment. A grand jury has indicted all charges.

On Thursday, March 6, 2025, a pretrial meeting was held to determine representation.

The court docket shows Bennett had already filed multiple motions to substitute or withdraw his counsel.

“I do not trust him [Swierski].” Bennett said, “I believe he will cause me to lose the trial purposely.”

While still pleading his innocence, Bennett said his counsel is leading him to “self-incrimination.”

“He does not care about my innocence,” Bennett said.

The courtroom had a somber atmosphere as Bennett was one of five men in custody watching their families from across the room. Judge Justin Beresky had few agenda items for Bennett’s pre-trial conference. Before continuing with the agenda, Swierski and the plaintiff's attorney, Daniel Strange, were called up to the stand for a private conversation with Beresky.

The agenda for this pre-trial meeting included covering whether Bennett still wanted to represent himself or allow Swierski to remain his attorney.

Bennett said he was “still in the process of finding a new lawyer.” 

Beresky then repeated the question, seeking a better answer. 

 “I think it’s a bad idea,” Swierski said. “It’s like they say, even an attorney who represents themselves has a fool for a client.” 

It was decided that Swierski would continue representing Bennett.

“If you have an invested emotional involvement, it’s hard to make logical decisions,” Swierski said.

Bennett brought up his right to a speedy trial, in which Beresky had to explain the difficulty of expediting proceedings given the movements within the case. 

Public records show Dr. Basha’s examinations had been pushed back due to changes in Bennett’s housing assignments.

“There’s a lot of moving parts in this case,” Swierski said, “A lot of stuff needs to be looked at before we can resolve short of trial or have to go to trial.”

Bennett was originally housed in the psychiatric unit of Lower Buckeye Jail. Court documents show Dr. Basha had tests scheduled for Jan 28, 2025.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office transferred the defendant to 4th Ave Jail, forcing Dr. Basha to reschedule the appointment. 

Just days later, Bennett was sent back to his original housing, causing further issues within the trial preparation.The tests were not conducted until just a few weeks ago, forcing the trial to be postponed from its original date of March 13, 2025. 

This case is nothing new for Swierski. He said he deals mostly in homicide and “the same type of things are involved in most cases.”

Beresky said a new trial date will be set after the 60-day Cost and Case Management Conference.