Death Penalty Sought For 2 Men In 3 Killings
READING, Pa. (AP) — Prosecutors in Berks County say they will seek the death penalty against a pair of eastern Pennsylvania brothers accused of killing two men in Reading and torturing and killing a woman whose burning body was found in Lehigh County.
Thirty-nine-year-old Michael Alan Wilkins and 32-year-old Maurice Adrian Wilkins of Ruscombmanor Township pleaded not guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder and related counts.
They're charged in the Dec. 4 slayings of 22-year-olds Rafael Alequin and Dario McLemore, and 26-year-old Jennifer Velez-Negron, whose charred body was found bound and gagged Dec. 27 on a Salisbury Township road.
Assistant District Attorney Dennis Skayhan says the slayings were drug-related.
Maurice Wilkins' lawyer, Jay Nigrini, says he'll ask to have the brothers tried separately.
The brothers are due back in court Nov. 15.
(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
