North Central District Court Judge Gary Lee has rejected a proposed plea deal that would have called for Sheridan Charlene Simms to plead guilty to a Class C felony charge of hindering a murder investigation in return for a sentence of 360 days, all suspended but the 77 days she already served in the Ward County jail, and two years of supervised probation.

Judge Lee, who did not give a reason for rejecting the plea deal, has scheduled a hearing for June 17 to consider a motion to suppress evidence in the case.

Simms, 30, allegedly drove murder suspect Donald Lee Cooper Jr., 27, to Milwaukee after the Jan. 12 shooting death of Dominick Stephens in Minot and left her children with a friend for four days while she was away. The friend hadn’t agreed to care for the children for that long, according to court documents.

Cooper is one of three men who were charged in connection with the murder of Stephens and the attempted murder of Stephens’ passenger, Patrick Bost. Cooper, allegedly one of the shooters, had reportedly been involved in an altercation with Bost prior to a car chase through north Minot that ended with Stephens crashing his vehicle into a boulder in front of the Minot State University Dome after being shot twice in the back. Bost was not injured.

Cooper and his co-defendant, Michael Lamart Dennis II, 25, reportedly fired shots at Stephens’ moving car from a pursuing vehicle driven by Marcus Jermaine Lee, 22, who is no relation to Judge Lee. Marcus Lee told authorities that Cooper and Dennis pressured him to chase Stephens’ vehicle and he was afraid of what would happen if he didn’t obey.

Marcus Lee was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in prison, with five years in prison, for Class A felony accomplice to murder. Dennis pleaded guilty in April to Class AA felony accomplice to murder and is to be sentenced on June 12. Cooper was apprehended in Milwaukee on April 3. According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Cooper crashed into another vehicle while fleeing law enforcement there and killed two people. Cooper is facing negligent homicide charges in state court in Wisconsin. He is in custody at the Milwaukee County Jail and is contesting his extradition back to North Dakota, where he faces charges of Class AA felony accomplice to murder, Class A felony attempted murder, Class C felony reckless endangerment and Class C felony terrorizing.

According to a probable cause affidavit in Simms’ case, Simms and a friend had attended a rap concert in Fargo and returned home on Jan. 11. Simms heard about the shooting from her nephew. Cooper kept calling Simms throughout the day on Jan. 12 and allegedly told her he had done something dumb and needed her help. Simms’ friend told police that Simms left Minot on the night of Jan. 13 with Cooper and they drove to Milwaukee. Cooper, an occasional sexual partner of Simms, has family in Milwaukee.

Simms returned to Minot and picked up the children from her friend’s apartment on Jan. 17 and drove with them to Las Vegas. The children are now living with their father in Las Vegas, according to a filing by Simms’ defense attorney, Erich Grant. Simms was apprehended in Las Vegas and returned to Minot to face the charges against her. Simms has been in custody since March 5.

Under the terms of the proposed plea deal, a charge of Class C felony child neglect would have been dismissed against Simms in return for her plea to the Class C felony charge of hindering a murder investigation. Grant notes in a court filing that there is no proof that Simms drove Cooper to Milwaukee except the word of the friend, who is a convicted felon herself. Simms never said she drove Cooper to Milwaukee and the friend only inferred it, according to the defense attorney. The children were used to staying with the friend and there was no evidence they had been neglected. According to court documents with the court, Simms would have entered an Alford plea, meaning she maintains her innocence to the charge of hindering law enforcement, but recognizes that she could be found guilty if the case goes to trial