Dec 20, 2007 10:30 am US/Eastern
4 Accused Of Killing Sean Taylor Plead Not Guilty
Suspects Filed Written Not Guilty Pleas
Charges Include First-Degree Felony Murder & Armed Burglary
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
Four suspects accused in the killing of Redskins Pro Bowl safety Sean Taylor have filed written not guilty pleas to first-degree felony murder and armed burglary charges.
The filing of a written plea usually means defendants do not appear in person at an arraignment. The arraignment hearing in the case is set for Friday.
The four suspects are from the Fort Myers area.
They are 17-year old Eric Rivera. He's the youngest suspect. The others are Charles Wardlow, 18, Jason Mitchell, 19 and Venjah Hunte, 20. All are charged with breaking into Taylor's Palmetto Bay home November 26th and shooting him during a confrontation in his bedroom. Taylor, who grew up in South Florida and played at the University of Miami before being drafted by the Redskins, died the next day at age 24.
Probable cause affidavits for Mitchell and Rivera said the two confessed to participating in armed burglary. According to the reports, Mitchell and Rivera admitted entering the home and said someone had a gun and shot Taylor, but they didn't identify who. Police and attorneys also have said some of the young men confessed, though they wouldn't elaborate. In the indictment handed up by a grand jury, Rivera is charged with being the shooter.
All four face life in prison if convicted. The Miami Dade State Attorneys Office will not be able to seek the death penalty for Rivera because he is a juvenile; and case law makes it extremely difficult for prosecutors to seek capital punishment for his three co-defendants if he does not receive the death penalty.
Hunte's attorney, Michael Hornung, said his client did not have a gun and is very upset about what happened.
Click Here to read the
probable cause affidavit for Hunt.
Keith Leonardo, president of Florida Christian Institute in Fort Myers, said Rivera and Wardlow are both seniors at the school, which has 190 learning-disabled students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Both played on the school's flag football team, Leonardo said.
The four suspects all have prior arrests, according to Lee County Sheriff's Office records: Wardlow, 18, was arrested twice for selling marijuana and once for grand theft of a vehicle. Rivera, 17, has been arrested in October for trafficking cocaine and methamphetamine, and he previously was behind bars for altering the identification number on a firearm. Hunte, 20, was arrested previously this year on drug and trespassing charges. And Mitchell, 19, had been arrested twice, most recently in October on charges of driving with a suspended license and violation of probation.
Miami Dade Police Public Safety Director Robert Parker said the robbery attempt at Taylor's home was a random incident and not a planned hit. The men involved, he said, thought they were stealing from an unoccupied home in Palmetto Bay, but when they were discovered by Taylor, one of them shot him in the leg, causing his death.
"They were certainly not looking to go there and kill anyone," Parker said. "They were expecting a residence that was not occupied, so murder or shooting someone was not their initial motive."
Taylor and longtime girlfriend, Jackie Garcia, were awakened by loud noises at Taylor's home. Taylor grabbed a machete he keeps in the bedroom for protection, and then someone broke through the bedroom door and fired two shots, one missing and one hitting Taylor in the upper leg. Neither the couple's 18-month-old daughter, also named Jackie, nor Garcia was injured in the attack.
The bullet damaged the femoral artery in Taylor's leg, causing significant blood loss. Taylor never regained consciousness and died a little more than 24 hours later at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
According to police, the four suspects are believed to have broken into the home earlier in the month, without being discovered.
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