MEADVILLE, Pa. — Sources say a Crawford County Court of Common Pleas judge will decide whether the statements made to authorities by Cochrantan-area murder suspects will be admissible in their upcoming trials.

According to a published article in The Meadville Tribune, Judge Mark Stevens will rule whether statements made to Pennsylvania State Police by 20 year-old Ashley Barber and 19 year-old Jade Olmstead allegedly confessing their guilt will be admitted at their trials.

Sources say the women allegedly admitted to police to beating 19 year-old Brandy Stevens on May 17 2012, with a shovel, cracking open her skull, choking her with a rope, placing her in a shallow grave near the home the two shared in Wayne Township while she was still alive, and burying her.

Pennsylvania State Police charged Barber and Olmstead with the following offenses:

-homicide
-conspiracy to commit homicide
-tampering with physical evidence.

Police allege the crime stemmed from a love triangle between the three women.

Sources say Judge Stevens ordered the defense attorneys to file legal briefs on their arguments by September 13 and gave the district attorney until September 20 to respond.

Both women are lodged in the Crawford County Jail without bond.

They are scheduled to go to trial in November.

Source: The Meadville Tribune