| Updated: 1/30 3:18 pm |
Published: 1/28 5:21 pm
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A judge has bound the suspect in the deaths of two Weleetka girls over for trial.
A man locked up in jail and accused of murder tells FOX23 News being outside makes him smile.
As Kevin Sweat was escorted out of the courtroom today, he told FOX23’s Abbie Alford he didn’t want to say anything about the preliminary hearing, “We’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”
FOX23’s Abbie Alford also asked about his smile. He continues to smile when he enters the courtroom, during testimony and as he leaves the courthouse, “I don’t ever get to be outside.”
Testimony will continues tomorrow for a man accused of shooting two young girls to death in Weleetka in 2008.
Kevin Sweat’s preliminary hearing in the Okfuskee County District Court begaon Monday. The hearing will determine whether Sweat is bound over for trial on two counts of first-degree murder for the 2008 deaths of 13-year-old Taylor Placker and 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker. They were shot repeatedly after they went for a walk on a rural road.
District Attorney Max Cook plans to call 13 witnesses to the stand. On Monday he called, 12 of them, a majority include OSBI agents who responded to the crime scene and firearm experts. Other witnesses include Baltimore Police Department, Glock Inc, and two other men who once owned the .40 caliber Glock pistol used to kill the Weleetka girls.
Prosecutors say shell casings from that exact gun were found on Sweat’s father’s property in Weleetka that is also five miles away from the murder scene.
Taylor's father also delivered emotional testimony on Monday morning about finding the bodies of the two girls and screaming in the street when he realized they were dead.
Sweat pleaded not guilty, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Sweat has been bound over for trial on a separate first-degree murder charge for the July 2011 slaying of his girlfriend, 23-year-old Ashley Taylor. Prosecutors are also seeking the death penalty in that case, the trial is set to begin on June 10.
