Man pleads guilty in backyard burial case
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Hugo Selenski, escorted by law enforcement officials, Monday in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
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WILKES-BARRE, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A man who made a daring prison break after he was imprisoned last fall on murder charges pleaded not guilty to killing two of the five people whose bodies were found buried in his back yard.
Hugo Marcus Selenski, 30, entered the plea at his formal arraignment Monday.
The district attorney's office is seeking the death penalty against Selenski, who is accused of killing the two May 14 with a shotgun as part of a plan to rob them of money and drugs. His trial is tentatively set to begin with jury selection September 7.
Selenski said outside the courtroom that he expects a fair trial despite the publicity his case has received.
Selenski and Patrick Russin, 33, were charged October 6 in the shotgun slayings of Adeiye Ossasis Keiler, 22, and Frank "Rudy" James, 29, whose charred remains were found June 5 at Selenski's Kingston Township home.
Also found buried in a shallow grave behind the home near Wilkes-Barre, about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia, were the remains of Michael Jason Kerkowski and Tammy Lynn Fassett, both 37, as well as another, still-unidentified person. No charges have been filed in those murders, although prosecutors say Selenski is a suspect.
Russin, who pleaded guilty to lesser charges November 6 and is scheduled to be sentenced March 1, is expected to testify against Mr. Selenski.
Four days after charges were filed, Selenski and another prisoner, Scott Bolton, pried open a window at the Luzerne County Prison and lowered a rope made of bed sheets to the roof of a lower building.
Bolton, injured during the escape, was captured, but Selenski remained at large for three days before turning himself in. Prosecutors on Friday charged Selenski's aunt and 17-year-old cousin with harboring a fugitive after the escape.
Copyright 2004 The
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