But Superior Court Judge Michael Donio did agree to have Jessica Kisby moved from the Salem County Jail to another facility after her attorney said the long trip there was hindering his defense work.
The 24-year-old Egg Harbor resident initially was held in the Atlantic County Jail, but she was moved to Salem on June 4 after authorities said she and 44-year-old Craig Arno of Atlantic City tried to communicate with each other. They said Kisby had written letters to Arno and allegedly sought to recruit inmates to pass messages between them.
Arno and Kisby are accused of carjacking Martin Caballero of North Bergen from the Trump Taj Mahal garage on May 21, then stabbing him to death and dumping his body.
They have pleaded not guilty to murder charges on Wednesday. Authorities say the crime was random and the suspects did not know Caballero before attacking him.
During a court hearing Friday, Donio said Kisby could not return to the Atlantic County facility because the possibility that the couple would connect remained high, despite the "expert security" in place at the jail.
But he said Kisby had been moved Thursday night to the Cape May County Jail so her attorney, Steven Scheffler, would no longer need to make the three-hour roundtrip to meet with her.
Scheffler thanked Donio for making the arrangements, but said he still didn't understand why she had to be moved in the first place. Donio cited Kisby's persistence in trying to contact Arno and indicated that the Atlantic County jail warden had mentioned other problems the judge would not reveal in open court.
"I went through hoops to get her moved closer," Donio told Scheffler. "This is the best that is going to happen. She is not coming back to Atlantic County."