Thursday, July 3, 2014 | 9:58 a.m.
The trial for a pair of men accused of posing as Mormon missionaries and muscling their way into a Las Vegas house to carry out an armed robbery has been delayed for a second time.
At the request of prosecutors, Clark County District Court Judge David Barker on Wednesday agreed to postpone the trial for Robert Estall and Abraham Austin until Sept. 22. The attorneys said they needed more time to prepare a witness.
Austin and Estall are charged with first-degree kidnapping, robbery, battery and burglary in the alleged pistol-whipping and robbery of Terence Delucia on June 27, 2013.
Metro Police said the men knocked on Delucia’s door under the guise of talking religion, then broke into his house.
Austin was arrested Aug. 23 and Estall turned himself in to authorities on Aug. 28.
The suspects have rejected plea deals that would have given them the right to argue for probation, according to court records.
At a Jan. 8 hearing, Estall told a judge he declined the nonbinding offer because it wouldn’t guarantee probation.
At the same hearing, Austin’s attorney, David Fischer, asked a judge to address competency issues for his client because he didn’t seem to understand the court process. Austin has since been deemed fit to stand trial.
Attorneys for both men have unsuccessfully tried having their clients freed on their own recognizance, arguing that both had clean criminal records.
Both men remain at the Clark County Detention Center on $150,000 bail.
Their trial was initially set for Feb. 10 and then reset to July 7 before the most recent delay.
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