Death Penalty Sought for Brothers in 3 Slayings

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.


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