An eastern Pennsylvania judge has rejected a defense request to bar prosecutors from using videos that authorities say show a bound and bloody murder victim along with the man accused of killing him saying "I do what I want.''
Authorities in Northampton County say another video shows Jeffrey Knoble, 26, of Riegelsville touching the head of Andrew "Beep'' White while referencing the bullet hole that killed him.
Knoble's attorneys argued that the videos, which a police investigator called "very gruesome,'' shouldn't be used because prosecutors didn't find them in an initial search of a cellphone. Judge Emil Giordano ruled Friday that the initial warrant covered a subsequent search of the phone in January.
Prosecutors have said they plan to seek the death penalty if Knoble is convicted of first-degree murder in the March 2015 killing of White, 32, called by authorities a "good Samaritan'' who rented a room for Knoble because he had no place to stay. They cited robbery and illegal firearm possession charges as justifying capital punishment in the case.
Knoble had been expected to plead guilty in August in exchange for a life term but shocked the court by declaring his innocence, sticking out his tongue at the victim's family and saying "Ha ha ha ha'' several times. His earlier legal team had said a mental health defense was possible.
