Paperwork snafus delay convicted murderer Kirkland Warren from pleading guilty in Arkansas murder

Nearly four months after Kirkland Warren was sentenced to life in prison for the killing of a Vancouver mother and daughter, he has yet to formally plead guilty in his other murder case in Arkansas because of paperwork snafus.

Warren, 29, pleaded guilty Sept. 5 in Clark County Superior Court to second-degree murder and aggravated first-degree murder in the deaths of his former girlfriend, 27-year-old Meshay Melendez, and her 7-year-old daughter, Layla Stewart, respectively. The mother and daughter were killed between March 12 and 13, 2023. Warren also entered an Alford plea to first-degree child molestation — which allows a defendant to maintain his innocence but admit there’s enough evidence to convict him — for sexually assaulting Layla.

The plea came days before his multiweek trial was set to start. Senior Deputy Prosecutor Toby Krauel previously said Warren also agreed to plead guilty as charged in the 2017 shooting of Curtis Urquhart in Arkansas. The plea agreement meant Warren would enter guilty pleas to first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse and be sentenced from Washington. Arkansas agreed not to seek the death penalty, court records show, and whatever sentence Warren receives in that case is set to run concurrent with his life sentence here.

He was sentenced in the Clark County case in October.

But a date has yet to be set for Warren to enter the plea in Arkansas. Warren was out on bail in the case at the time of Melendez and Layla’s killings.

Cymber Tadlock, the deputy prosecutor who’s handling Warren’s Arkansas case, said Friday that Warren’s Arkansas defense attorney had met with him to fill out plea paperwork, but when Tadlock received the forms, they weren’t all signed properly. Now, the attorneys are waiting for Warren to arrive at his long-term destination with the Washington Department of Corrections, she said, before his Arkansas attorney can meet with him to finish the forms. Then, Tadlock said they can schedule a hearing to enter the plea.

“It’s going to happen,” Tadlock said.

Records show Warren is being held at the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton.

Tadlock also pointed to a budget crisis in her county and high caseloads as contributing to the delay.

Tadlock said she’s been in touch with Melendez’s family and promised to share details about any hearing if they wished to watch or speak.