| Updated: 12/13/2011 11:12 pm |
Published: 12/12/2011 10:18 pm
|
Murder suspect, Kevin Sweat, gets his first day in court.
Sweat, 25, is charged with the 2008 murder of two young girls in Weleetka and the murder of his fiancée this year.
A convoy of police officers, sheriff’s deputies, troopers and state agents escorted Sweat outside of the Okfuskee County courthouse.
A judge entered three pleas of not guilty to first degree murder charges in connection to the shooting deaths of Taylor Paschal-Placker, 13, and Skyla Whitaker, 11.
Sweat is also accused killing his fiancée Ashley Taylor in July of this year.
Sweat was escorted into the courtroom wearing a bullet proof vest over his orange jumpsuit.
Family of the Weleetka girls had never faced Sweat. One supporter sobbed, ‘Oh God is that him?”
Taylor’s father focused on Sweat but the suspect never made eye contact.
The entourage of security guarded Sweat on the ground and up in the air by helicopter.
His attorney confirmed in court, Sweat’s black eye on his right eye came from a jailhouse fight over the weekend.
He’s being held in the Seminole County Jail.
“You see him as a monster that he is. The Weleetka girls weren't,” says Ashley’s grandmother Lee Joy Taylor. “They were just victimized by someone on the roadside."
Sweat told police on the afternoon of June 8th, 2008, he pulled over on the dirt road in rural Weleetka.
In a confession he told police he saw “two monsters” came at him.
He panicked and shot Taylor and Skyla with his .40 caliber Glock and pulled his .22 out of his glove box and shot them again.
Autopsy reports the girls were shot a total of 13 times.
Three first-degree murder charges later, Sweat faces the death penalty. The Okfuskee County District Attorney Max Cook handed Sweat the Bill of Particulars in all three cases.
His next court appearance could determine if he goes to trial.
"I wish they would have solved it sooner. My daughter would be alive today had it been solved,” says Ashley’s father Mike Taylor.
Police say Sweat confessed to slitting Ashley’s throat and burying her body at his father’s property near Weleetka around July 17th, 2011.
Her family thought they were getting married in New Orleans.
Before Ashley’s body was found they confronted Sweat about their daughter’s disappearance.
Her family tells FOX23 News Sweat said some suspicious comments about the Weleetka girls.
They say they reported his behavior to OSBI.
"Why and how someone could stoop so low and kill innocent people?” says Faye Taylor, Ashley’s stepmother.
Since Ashley’s death, OSBI agents connected .40 caliber Glock shell casings from Sweat’s father's property near Weleetka with the Weleetka scene.
He’s now locked up but families from all three girls just want justice.
"It's just going to be hard,” says Mike Taylor. "You have to deal with never seeing your daughter again, never getting to talk to her.”
The judge says he’ll rule on the gag order filed by the defense on January 3rd. The gag order would prohibit officials and anyone investigator connected to the from speaking to the media.
The only public comment the defense wanted to make was that Sweat is innocent until proven guilty.
He is being represented by Gretchen Mosley and L. Wayne Woodward.
A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for February 22nd and 24th. The hearing will allow the judge to decide if there is enough evidence for Sweat to stand trial
Meantime, investigators say they are still waiting on more results from forensic evidence.
The OSBI has identified one of two weapons used in the murder as a .40 Glock model 22 with serial number EKG463US. Sweat may have tried to sell that gun at a gun show in Tulsa this March. The OSBI is offering up to a $5,000 reward for that firearm.
The OSBI continues to urge anyone with information about this case to call 1-800-522-8017. A sizeable reward remains in place for such information.
Timeline of the Weleetka investigation from the arrest affidavit:
· June 2008 Weleetka girls killed, investigator found .40 caliber shell casings from same gun
· Jan. 2010 OSBI received info Sweat purchased .40 caliber gun in fall 2007
· Jan. 21st Sweat interviewed by OSBI and said he sold .40 cal gun in 2007
· Aug. 22nd OSBI went to Sweat's father's property near Weleetka and learned Sweat shot guns in the area and recovered .40 caliber shell casings
· OSBI tested the shell casings and matched them to shell casings from the Weleetka murders
· OSBI traced the .40 caliber gun owned by Sweat to gun dealer and found the serial number EKG463US
· Sept. 2011 FBI and ATF find gun had been sold to OK dealer in 2006, gun eventually purchased by Sweat
· Sept. 13, OSBI interviews Sweat. Miranda rights read:
Sweat said that on June 2008, during the afternoon, he was driving his black Chevrolet Cavalier car on North 3890 Road in Okfuskee County. Sweat pulled over on the side of the road and saw "two monsters." Sweat then "panicked" and grabbed his Glock .40 caliber handgun from between the seats of his car.
Sweat then "shot the monsters" with his Glock handgun. Sweat then grabbed his ".22 caliber" gun from the glove box and "shot the monsters" with his .22 caliber gun. Sweat then got back in his car and left. Sweat told OSBI that he shot the "monsters" with the Glock handgun that he had purchased in 2007 while living in Henryetta.
· Sept. 30th FBI learns gun with serial number originally was owned by the Baltimore Police Department
· Oct. 5th, OSBI tested shell casing from that Baltimore .40 cal shell casing and it matched the gun used in Weleetka
