WASHTENAW COUNTY, Mich. – The three charged in the double murder of a foster family in Washtenaw County were back in court Wednesday afternoon for a hearing about how their trials will be conducted.
Shuvonne Vinson, Gregory Callhan and Keith Finley were charged in connection with the murder of Jennifer Bernhard, 48, and Stevie Smith, 74, and the attempted murder of Jeffrey Bernhard, 53, on Nollar Bend Road in Northfield Township on Jan. 1, 2025.
They are also accused of kidnapping the family’s 10-year-old daughter and their 4-year-old foster daughter. The foster child is Vinson’s biological daughter.
The three appeared in court virtually before Washtenaw County Judge Patrick J. Conlin Jr. on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, for a continuation of a motion hearing about whether the defendants will have separate trials. You can watch the full hearing in the video at the top of this article.
The judge began the hearing by saying the county doesn’t have the capacity to have all three defendants tried together, but they could have the trials for two of the defendants happen at the same time.
Finley’s attorney argued that Callhan made statements implicating her client, making a joint trial prejudicial.
She requested separate trials or separate juries.
The prosecution noted that all three defendants are entitled to separate juries, but requested one trial so the victims would not have to testify more than once.
The judge acknowledged their rights to these separate juries, and also raised logistical concerns, saying there isn’t the physical space to try three defendants at the same time.
“Judge, what I would urge the court to be mindful of is that to separate these even into two separate trials is to mandate that two individuals in particular, one individual who lost his wife and his father-in-law, and one child who lost her mother and her grandfather, will have to testify now not just one more time, but two more times,” the prosecution said.
Related --> Foster father recalls night wife, father-in-law were murdered in Washtenaw County home invasion
The prosecutor said that making them testify two more times is “unfair,” “unkind,” and “feels unnecessary,” and is urging the court to do what they can to hold the trials together.
“I think to separate them works such a disservice to the victims that it winds up being abusive,” the prosecutor said.
The judge said that the offenses were out of the same series of actions, the evidence is overlapping, and noted the burden on the witnesses and ultimately decided that Finley “failed to meet the burden required for mandatory severance” and declined his request for a separate trial as it’s “not necessary to promote fairness.”
The judge reiterated that all three defendants are entitled to separate juries, but still noted the lack of space for having all three trials together.
To do that, the county would have to possibly rent a hall, which wouldn’t include the infrastructure of deliberation rooms and the availability of court staff to manage it.
“A mistrial in that scope would be even more catastrophic than having two well-managed trials,” Conlin said.
Conlin said this will be “incredibly difficult” for the witnesses, and he “wishes there was a way around it,” but doesn’t know of any courthouse that could accommodate three juries.
The trials will likely be conducted with two of the defendants at one time.
The judge said that if the prosecution and defense teams haven’t decided which two defendants will have their trials first, jointly, by the final pretrial conference in February, then they will schedule another meeting to discuss the matter.
The trial date for the first two defendants is scheduled for May 18, 2026.
On April 16, 2025, Washtenaw County Judge Cedric Simpson ruled there was enough evidence for Callhan and Finley to stand trial. Their preliminary examinations were held together.
Then, on Aug. 5, 2025, Vinson was also bound over to circuit court on all charges.
Vinson, Callhan and Finley were charged after they allegedly went into the foster parents’ home at about 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 1, 2025, and killed Jennifer and her father, Steve Smith, and then kidnapped their two daughters.
Vinson, the foster daughter’s biological mother, is accused of organizing the attack to get custody of her child back.