TAYLOR PASCHAL-PLACKER and SKYLA WHITAKER - 13 and 11 yo (2008) - Weleetka OK

A 25-year-old Oklahoma man has been charged with first-degree murder in the 2008 shooting deaths of two young girls as they walked along a rural road, authorities said Friday.





Kevin Sweat, of Henryetta, Okla., was charged with the murders of 13-year-old Taylor Paschal-Placker and 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker, who were both shot and killed as they walked along County Line Road in Weleetka in June 2008.

The two friends were shot multiple times as they played close to Placker’s home near Weleetka, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

Authorities identified one of two weapons used in the murders as a .40-caliber model 22 with serial number EKG463US. They say Sweat may have tried to sell the gun at a gun show in Tulsa this March.

Stan Florence, Director of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, said during a press conference Friday that investigators are still searching for the weapon.

Florence said Sweat is already in custody in connection with the death of his girlfriend, Ashley Taylor.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/09/25-year-old-man-charged-with-murder-in-2008-shooting-death-oklahoma-girls/print#ixzz1g4o36cCt

Man charged in deaths of 2 Oklahoma girls left in ditch
By the CNN Wire Staff

updated 6:11 PM EST, Fri December 9, 2011

Man charged in deaths of Oklahoma girls

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Shell casings at crime scene matched those on suspect's father's land, police say
  
• The suspect says he saw "two monsters" and shot them, according to an affidavit
  
• "We just believe that he happened to be in the area that day," an investigator says
  
• Sweat became a suspect in this case after being arrested this summer in his girlfriend's death
  

(CNN)
-- A 25-year-old Oklahoma man was charged Friday with murder in the
deaths of two girls who were found about three and a half years ago,
shot to death in a ditch alongside a remote country road.

"We
don't believe that he knew (the slain girls) directly," Oklahoma State
Bureau of Investigation Director Stan Florence said Friday of Kevin
Sweat. "We just believe that he happened to be in the area that day."

According
to a probable cause affidavit, Sweat told investigators on September 13
that he'd been driving his Chevrolet Cavalier where the girls were
found when he saw "two monsters" come at him.

The suspect said he
"panicked," shooting the "monsters" first with a Glock .40 handgun and
then with a .22 handgun he'd had in his glove box, the affidavit said.
It claimed Sweat had voluntarily waived his rights and agreed to talk to
investigators.

The "monsters" are believed to be best friends
Taylor Paschal-Placker, 13, of Weleetka and Skyla Jade Whittaker, 11, of
nearby Henryetta, who were discovered June 8, 2008, by Taylor's
grandfather. They had been shot in the head and chest, eight times for
Skyla and five for Taylor, the state medical examiner reported after an
autopsy.

Their killings rattled Weleetka, a town of just over
1,000 residents, with police calling the shootings the community's first
murders in more than 20 years.

They also set off an extensive
investigation involving multiple local, state and federal law
enforcement agencies and including about 650 interviews, 900 leads and
19,000 forensic tests on 800 pieces of evidence, according to Florence.

In
January 2010, Sweat was among those interviewed about the girls'
murder, because he owned a Glock .40 Model 22 handgun like one of those
thought to be used in the shootings. He then told an investigator then
that he'd sold such a gun in 2007, according to the arrest affidavit.

But
he was not considered a suspect until this year, after being arrested
and charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Ashley Taylor, Florence
said.

Kevin Sweat, shown in an undated photo, was interviewed relatively early about the girls' deaths.



He
was already in the Seminole County Jail in his girlfriend's death when
the new charges were filed, according to the state investigative bureau
director.

He is charged on four counts related to the 2008 case:
two each of first-degree murder, plus two each of shooting with intent
to kill, according to the affidavit. The witnesses cited in this
document include several of Sweat's family members, including his
father, as well as the two victims' relatives and the Glock gun company.

District
Attorney Max Cook, whose jurisdiction includes Creek and Okfuskee
counties, said Friday that he has filed court documents requesting that
Sweat be eligible for the death penalty if found guilty of murder in any
of these killings.

"We feel that we are in an appropriate
position to go forward in this case," Cook said Friday, referring to the
case of the two girls.

Neighbors and relatives described Taylor
and Skyla as nearly inseparable, often playing together after school,
riding their bikes and sleeping at each others' houses. They were at
Taylor's house the night of June 8, when they set off about 5 p.m. for a
walk down the road.

Soon thereafter, Taylor's grandfather made a
futile attempt to call her on her cell phone. He found the two girls
about 30 minutes later, lying side-by-side in a ditch about a
quarter-mile from the home, police said.

Six weeks after the
slayings, Oklahoma authorities released a 911 tape in which a
breathless, nearly hysterical woman -- identified only as a family
member of one of the victims -- is heard screaming, "Somebody killed two
girls."

"They went for a walk, and now they are both down here
dead. ... My granddaughter and her friend," the woman said on the tape.
"Help me. Please!"

On September 30, a $5,000 reward was offered
for information on "the Glock .40 model 22 handgun used in the Weleetka
girls' homicides," the state investigation bureau noted on its website. A
serial number was given for that weapon, one of two linked to the
girls' deaths.

Ballistics tests determined that the .40-caliber
shell casings found at the crime scene, matched those found on the
property of Curtis Sweat, Kevin's father, the affidavit said.

Investigators
determined the serial number of the gun, which had been sold to Sweat.
In his September interview, the suspect admitted that he'd purchased the
Glock .40 gun in 2007.

Authorities on Friday reiterated their
plea for the public's help in tracking down this firearm, which they
said Sweat may have tried to sell in March at a Tulsa gun show.

Two
photos of the suspect were also released: one taken around the time of
the Weleetka killings and the other a mug shot after he was charged in
his girlfriend's death.

"We hope that, by releasing (those
photos), it will spark someone's memory of seeing Mr. Sweat around the
scene of (Taylor and Skyla's) murder," Florence said.

OKEMAH, Okla. — A three-year-long hunt for a suspect in the fatal
shootings of two young girls in eastern Oklahoma ended Friday when
authorities announced murder charges against a man who claimed he fired
at two monsters on a rural road.

Kevin Sweat, 25, who was
already in custody in connection with another killing, was charged in
the June 2008 deaths of Taylor Placker, 13, and Skyla Whitaker, 11. An
affidavit filed Friday at the Okfuskee County Courthouse said Sweat told
an investigator he saw "'two monsters' come at him" and fired at them
with .40- and .22-caliber handguns.
Prosecutors will seek
the death penalty. Sweat also faces a murder charge in the unrelated
death of his girlfriend, Ashley Taylor, and the head of the Oklahoma
State Bureau of Investigation said her disappearance led them to look at
Sweat again in the girls' deaths. Taylor went missing in July after
telling her parents she was eloping with Sweat.
"After the death of Ashley Taylor a lot of things started to come together,"
OSBI director Stan Florence said after a news conference on the courthouse lawn.
"You'll see that began to help unfold
his potential involvement and, of course, it took some more effort on
our part to link that."
Investigators had talked to Sweat
before Taylor's July death because he owned a .40-caliber Glock — Glock
casings were found near the girls' bodies, but there was no other
reason to link him to the crimes, Florence said.
Ballistics tests on five shell casings found at the scene showed they
were from the same gun, and matched casings found on Sweat's father's
property near Weleetka when investigators began looking at Sweat anew.
Meanwhile, the FBI traced the gun through its various owners, including the
Baltimore Police Department. A gun dealer who had the gun in 2006 and
2007 said he sold it to Sweat. Sweat initially told investigators he
sold the gun in 2007, but in a September interview said he fired a Glock at the "monsters."
"Sweat said that on June 8, 2008
during the afternoon, he was driving his black Chevrolet Cavalier car on
North 3980 Road in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma," OSBI agent Kurt
Titsworth's affidavit says. "Sweat pulled over on the side of the road
and saw `two monsters' come at him. Sweat then panicked. ... Sweat then
`shot the monsters' with the Glock handgun. Sweat then grabbed a `.22
caliber' gun from the glove box and `shot the monsters' with the .22 caliber gun."
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation
agents pored over 900 leads, performed 19,000 forensic tests on 800
pieces of evidence and conducted hundreds of interviews in the
high-profile case, Florence said. He thanked the victims' families for their patience.
"They have endured a terrible ordeal," Florence said.
Sweat may have tried to sell the Glock at a gun show in Tulsa this March,
officials said. A reward of $5,000 reward is being offered for the firearm.
The arrests come more than three years after
family members discovered the girls along an unpaved road less than a
half-mile from Placker's home. They had been headed for Bad Creek
Bridge, where they planned to wade through waist-high weeds to the river
bank to collect shells and pebbles.
Their deaths were one of a series of tragedies to strike the town of barely 900 people.
Weleetka residents also have been shaken in recent years by a house fire that
killed six people; the death of a beloved youth minister in an oil tank
explosion; and a fire that tore through several downtown buildings.
Tammy Smith, the secretary at the grade school the girls attended, listened
in as prosecutors and investigators announced the arrest.
"I just held my daughter in my arms and cried while we listened to the
press conference," Smith said. She said she's not sure, though, if the
tears she and her 14-year-old daughter shed were out of relief or
concern that such a horrible crime could happen again.
Wanda Mankin, principal of the Graham School, has marked each day since the
girls' grisly murders in 2008. "It's been three years, six months and
one day, but who's counting?"
She described the arrest as
just the "first step toward justice" because the authorities still must
prove their case. And, like many teachers and parents in the small
town, she worries there could be more than one culprit.
"There could be someone out there who could be wanting to hurt somebody else," Mankin said.
Florence believes Sweat acted alone — taking advantage of the situation.
"It was a very remote area — not easy to get to," he said. "It wasn't a
location that would be typically someone would run by or drive by. It is
totally out of the normal flow of traffic."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57340509/convict-charged-in-08-killing-of-okla-girls/

Snipped from the first article above:

"In January 2010, Sweat was among those interviewed about the girls' murder, because he owned a Glock .40 Model 22 handgun like one of those thought to be used in the shootings. He then told an investigator then that he'd sold such a gun in 2007, according to the arrest affidavit."

I don't understand why LE wouldn't have investigated this guy when he had two guns that matched the two that were used on the girls. I mean what are the odds of that. It took another murder by this "monster" to tie him with the little girl's murders. Seems they should have checked into this more thoroughly in 2010.

babyjustice wrote:Snipped from the first article above:

"In January 2010, Sweat was among those interviewed about the girls' murder, because he owned a Glock .40 Model 22 handgun like one of those thought to be used in the shootings. He then told an investigator then that he'd sold such a gun in 2007, according to the arrest affidavit."

I don't understand why LE wouldn't have investigated this guy when he had two guns that matched the two that were used on the girls. I mean what are the odds of that. It took another murder by this "monster" to tie him with the little girl's murders. Seems they should have checked into this more thoroughly in 2010.

My understanding is that these are two very common handguns.

The 3 photo's above are of Keven Joe Sweat. On August 3, 2011 he was arrested and charged with the murder of Ashley Celeste Taylor, 23. Police recovered her remains on August 10, 2011 in Okmulgee, Oklahoma.

http://murphymilanojournal.blogspot.com/2011/09/cold-blooded-killers-connection-to.html

posters note:These photos remind me of the pics that surfaced after Hailey Dunn went missing.

Man accused in Weleetka deaths in court

Published: 12/14/2011  2:26 AM
Last Modified: 12/14/2011  7:14 AM



OKEMAH - Kevin Sweat made his first appearance before a judge Tuesday after being charged last week in the slayings of two Weleetka girls in 2008.

Shackled, wearing an orange jumpsuit and bulletproof vest, Sweat stood silent while the court entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.

Family and friends of Taylor Paschal-Placker, 13, and Skyla Whitaker, 11, as well as those of Ashley Taylor, 23, Sweat's former girlfriend whom he is also accused of killing, gathered in the Okfuskee County courtroom to watch the proceedings.

Some people in the audience became emotional when Sweat entered the courtroom under the protection of Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agents, Okfuskee County sheriff's deputies and Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers.

Sweat was charged Friday with two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of the two girls, who were killed June 8, 2008, along a dirt road northeast of Weleetka in rural Okfuskee County.

District Attorney Max Cook personally handed Sweat papers filed last Friday indicating that the state would seek the death penalty.

Sweat said only, "Yes, sir," when asked by District Judge David Martin if he understood the charges against him.

He was ordered to be jailed without bond. He was taken by a caravan of law enforcement officers back to the Seminole County Jail.

Sweat had bruising around his right eye, apparently from an assault that Seminole County Undersheriff Todd Hignite told The Oklahoman took place over the weekend in the jail.

Members of Ashley Taylor's family attended Tuesday's hearing. They said this is only the beginning of a long, painful road for all of the families involved.

"I don't think there is any way you can prepare for it," said Michael Taylor, Ashley Taylor's father.

Her family has told various media about an online journal - or blog - connected with Sweat. In it, Sweat, who wrote under a pseudonym, identified himself and family members by name and divulged his date of birth. He also mentioned a 2009 drug arrest for possession of marijuana, which is reflected in court records.

Several photos were posted to the blog depicting a person who appears to be Sweat holding several firearms.

In November 2008, a post was entered that included the line, "I got a secret for everyone, but I won't mention until I got everything worked out."

Posts to the site go back to 2006 and also mention serving time in the Navy and receiving medication for anxiety.

An entry was posted in May 2010 about his engagement to Ashley Taylor, which he characterized as the "biggest mistake of my life."

In April, he posted that he was going to leave the state in three months. In July, court records show that he and Taylor were planning to leave the state to elope. Sweat returned, but Taylor was missing.

In an affidavit filed Aug. 12 in Okfuskee County District Court, OSBI Agent Kurt Titsworth wrote that OSBI assistance was requested on July 30 by the Okmulgee Police Department in connection with Taylor's disappearance.

Titsworth stated that Taylor was last seen July 15 and that she and Sweat were to have left for Louisiana on July 17. A missing-person report was made July 29 after Taylor was due to return.

Sweat was interviewed on July 30 and again on Aug. 2. He told authorities that after a fight, Taylor asked to get out of the car. Sweat told officers that he pulled over and she got out, which was the last time he saw her, Titsworth stated in the affidavit.

On Aug. 3, Sweat told authorities that on July 17, he and Taylor went to Nichols Park in Henryetta, where he told Taylor he wasn't going to marry her, Titsworth stated. Sweat told agents that Taylor hit him and that Sweat threw a knife at her and said, "Why don't you kill yourself?" Titsworth wrote.

Taylor picked up the knife and walked to a pier on the lake, where she cut herself and fell onto the pier, the affidavit says Sweat told authorities.

Sweat then told agents that he picked up the knife, "cut Ashley's throat and pushed her into the lake," Titsworth stated in the affidavit. Officers searched the lake but did not locate a body.

On Aug. 5 and 6, agents searched Sweat's parents' property near Weleetka, where Sweat told agents he had gone after he let Taylor out of the car. Agents found human remains, women's clothing and prescription eyeglasses consistent with Taylor's near a burn pile on the property, Titsworth stated.

Michael Taylor said Tuesday that faith and family have helped get them through this tragedy.

"I have a strong belief in God, and hatred is not something I want to have," he said.

Sweat is due in court Feb. 22 for a preliminary hearing in charges related to Ashley Taylor. A motions hearing for the charges in the girls' murder case is scheduled for the same day.


Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=669&articleid=20111214_11_A1_CUTLIN824856

Oklahoma man accused of 3 deaths to enter plea

Updated: 10:27 am Published: 10:26 am

OKEMAH, Okla. (AP) — A man accused of killing two young girls in 2008 is scheduled to enter a plea on a first-degree murder count stemming from the July 2011 death of his girlfriend.

Kevin Sweat is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Okfuskee County District Court in Okemah.

In May, a judge ordered Sweat to stand trial in connection with the slaying of 23-year-old Ashley Taylor. Investigators allege fragmented human bones found on the property of Sweat's father were consistent with Taylor but not an exact match.

Sweat also is accused of fatally shooting 13-year-old Taylor Placker and 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker, who were found after they went for a walk near Weleetka. His preliminary hearing in that case is set for Nov. 5.

Sweat has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

http://www.fox23.com/news/local/story/Oklahoma-man-accused-of-3-deaths-to-enter-plea/ooDwD6usa0mtVRb8K5qxhw.cspx

Not guilty plea for Okla. man in deaths of 2 girls
March 28, 2013 11:06 CDT

OKEMAH, Okla. (AP) -- A judge has entered a not guilty plea on behalf of a man accused of gunning down two girls in rural Oklahoma.

Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Parish entered the plea Thursday on behalf of Kevin Sweat.

Sweat is accused in the June 2008 shooting deaths of 13-year-old Taylor Placker and 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.

Sweat was already in custody in connection with the death of his girlfriend, Ashley Taylor, when he told investigators in 2011 he shot "the demons" who approached him along a rural road where the girls' bodies were found.

Also Thursday, Sweat's attorneys requested a change of venue for Sweat's June trial for Ashley Taylor's death. The judge has not yet ruled on that request.

http://www.okcfox.com/

Man charged in Okla. girl's deaths wants 1 trial
May 15, 2013 04:09 CDT

OKEMAH, Okla. (AP) -- A man charged in the shooting deaths of two young girls near Weleetka and the death of his 23-year-old girlfriend wants a judge to combine the separate cases so he can be tried for all three deaths at once.

A hearing is scheduled in Okfuskee County District Court Wednesday for 27-year-old Kevin Sweat. Sweat faces three counts of first-degree murder for the July 2011 death of his girlfriend, Ashley Taylor, as well as the 2008 shooting deaths of 13-year-old Taylor Placker and 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker.

A June 10 trial date is set for Sweat in Taylor's death. Sweat says he should be tried once for all three deaths because a judge is allowing prosecutors to admit evidence of the girls' deaths at Taylor's trial.

Sweat has pleaded not guilty.

http://www.okcfox.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.ok/3aeff4d0-www.okcfox.com.shtml

The links for this site don't always work. You may have to go to the main page and navigate from there. William

They are separate crimes, hope his motion is denied.

Accused Weleetka girls’ killer to undergo additional psychological testing

Sunday, February 2, 2014 at 10:33 AM

OKEMAH — Accused killer Kevin Sweat will undergo additional psychological testing to determine whether he understood he had waived his Miranda rights before confessing to investigators that he shot two Weleetka girls and killed his fiancée.

At a Tuesday hearing in Okfuskee County court, a forensic psychologist for the defense testified that Sweat wasn’t able to give a “knowing and intelligent” waiver of his Miranda rights before the taped confessions the state plans to use as evidence of his guilt at trial.

READ MORE : http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/crimewatch/accused-weleetka-girls-killer-to-undergo-additional-psychological-testing/article_a8fea47c-8851-11e3-925c-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=story (via Chathouse Cares)

Disgusting POS is a whiner and a coward, a yellow belly child murderer.

Competency hearing for murder defendant Kevin Sweat stretches into hours

Posted: Wednesday, April 23, 2014 12:00 am | Updated: 7:20 am, Wed Apr 23, 2014.
By CARY ASPINWALL
OKEMAH — A competency hearing for the suspect in the killings of his fiancée and two Weleetka girls dissolved into multiple hours of questioning as to whether the defendant has Asperger's syndrome or autism.
Kevin Sweat appeared in Okfuskee County District Court on Tuesday for continued hearings on whether he was mentally competent when he waived his Miranda rights before confessing to investigators that he shot two Weleetka girls and killed his fiancée.
Sweat faces three counts of first-degree murder in the 2008 deaths of Skyla Whitaker and Taylor Paschal-Placker outside Weleetka and the 2011 death of his fiancée, Ashley Taylor.
He gave contradictory or evasive answers on a battery of psychological tests that examined his personality traits and understanding of Miranda rights, a forensic psychologist testified Tuesday.
Despite Sweat's conflicting answers, forensic psychologist Shawn Roberson said he found no evidence of mental confusion, illness or deficiencies even though Sweat repeatedly refused to answer "very basic" questions about his personality that most criminal defendants will answer.
Roberson also testified that he found no evidence of Sweat's having autism or Asperger's, despite another defense psychologist's raising the issue in a separate, unpublished report.
The report that supposedly diagnosed Sweat as autistic or having Asperger's was never entered into evidence or examined in open court prior to Tuesday's hearing, which left Judge Lawrence Parish frustrated that defense attorney Gretchen Mosley devoted several hours to examining the issue.
"What evidence does this court have that your client has been diagnosed with Asperger's?" the judge asked after Mosley spent a considerable amount of time questioning the state's psychologist regarding his expertise in autism.
The hearing concluded Tuesday after more than seven hours of cross-examination of Roberson by the defense. Parish will soon issue a written ruling on Sweat's competency to waive his Miranda rights and whether the video confession will be allowed at trial.
Mosley spent several hours picking apart the evaluation methods of the various tests that Roberson used, raising questions about everything from whether he was qualified to determine that Sweat did not have Asperger's to whether witness statements he used were reliable.
The witness remained patient on the stand, but Parish grew less tolerant of Mosley's strategy as time wore on, telling her she was trying to plow the same field, "only with a different tool each time."
A psychologist who previously testified for the defense has said Sweat suffers from mental confusion and could not have made a knowing, voluntary waiver of his Miranda rights. But that psychologist did not testify about Sweat's having autism or Asperger's, prosecutors noted.
Parish allowed the other psychological evaluations to be entered as evidence Tuesday but said he would give them "whatever worth" he decided they merited.
The hearing was supposed to focus on the state's evaluations of whether Sweat was competent and understood that he had waived his rights to remain silent and to have an attorney present before he told an OSBI investigator that he shot what he thought were two "monsters" on an Okfuskee County road in 2008.
Roberson, an expert in forensic psychology, testified that Sweat gave answers that contradicted facts established by documents, witnesses and evidence elsewhere about his personality and history.
"He presented himself far differently in my evaluation than others described him in witness statements," Roberson said.
Witnesses described Sweat as a loner who could be awkward and aloof at times, who was into heavy metal music and goth culture as a high schooler, and who was interested in weapons and violent films. Sweat described himself differently to Roberson and lied about his history of drug use and the number of girlfriends he'd had, Roberson testified.
Sweat denied having an interest in weapons or serial killers, something that contradicted his own writings and website postings.
"I got the sense that he didn't want me to know a lot about him," Roberson testified, saying Sweat commonly answered "not that I recall" to many of the questions.
Sweat also scored unusually low — in the bottom 4th percentile — on a test regarding Miranda rights knowledge, which Roberson said seemed "surprising," considering that the defense's own testing previously showed that he understood the concept of Miranda rights.
A recording of a courthouse conversation between Sweat and his mother also seemed to indicate that he understood the concept of Miranda rights, a rule given by police to criminal suspects in custody that explains their constitutional rights.
Sweat's statement that he shot at two monsters and may have been seeing demons were made during a 2011 videotaped confession that the state plans to use as a key piece of evidence of his guilt at trial, if the judge rules that the confession was knowing and voluntary.
The case is set to begin trial in the Creek County Courthouse in Bristow in August because defense attorneys requested a venue change last year.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/competency-hearing-for-murder-defendant-kevin-sweat-stretches-into-hours/article_36857622-c687-51a3-bf22-bd3e3dda3def.html

Judge considers mental health of Oklahoma suspect
Ruling in Kevin Sweat competency hearing to be issued at later date
Published 12:48 PM CDT Apr 23, 2014

OKEMAH, Okla. —A judge is considering whether the man charged in the deaths of his fiancee and two Weleetka girls was mentally competent when he waived his Miranda rights and allegedly confessed to the crimes.

After hours of testimony Tuesday, Judge Lawrence Parish said he would issue a written ruling at a later date on Kevin Sweat's competency.

Read more: http://www.koco.com/news/judge-considers-mental-health-of-oklahoma-suspect/25621444#ixzz2zwNKKlcj

Prosecutors: Kevin Sweat threatened to kill girlfriend one month before Weleetka girls' deaths

Posted: Thursday, July 10, 2014 12:00 am
Updated: 3:19 pm, Fri Jul 11, 2014.
By CARY ASPINWALL World Staff Writer

OKEMAH — Prosecutors are seeking to present evidence at trial that Kevin Sweat abused and threatened to kill his girlfriend one month before he allegedly gunned down two Weleetka girls in 2008.

At a hearing Wednesday in Okfuskee County District Court, District Judge Lawrence Parish said he would consider whether that evidence could be allowed at trial in addition to several other pre-trial matters at a July 16 hearing.

Now that Sweat has waived his right to a jury trial and the state is no longer seeking the death penalty, Parish said Wednesday that he expects both sides to be ready for the Aug. 4 trial date “absent some calamity.”

Sweat is charged with first-degree murder in the June 2008 shootings of Skyla Whitaker and Taylor Paschal-Placker outside Weleetka and the 2011 death of his former fiancée, Ashley Taylor.

In court records filed Tuesday, prosecutors allege that Sweat was dating Makia Cook until June 2008, and that during the relationship, he began “physically and mentally abusing” Cook.

On one occasion, they were driving down a dirt road in Okfuskee County while having an argument, and Sweat pulled out a black semi-automatic handgun and pointed it at her, according to the filing.

Prosecutors allege that Sweat threatened to kill Cook, her family and also himself if she ended the relationship. After graduating from high school, she moved to get away from him, according to the filing.

“The aforementioned evidence of prior bad acts or wrongs is being offered as, and is admissible to show the motive” of Sweat, according to the filing.

Whitaker and Paschal-Placker were found gunned down by the side of a county road on June 8, 2008.

The girls’ murders remained unsolved until Taylor went missing in 2011, and Sweat reportedly made incriminating statements to Taylor’s family when confronted about her disappearance.

Her family reported her missing in July 2011, after the couple had supposedly traveled to Louisiana to get married. Sweat initially told investigators he’d last seen his fiancée walking down U.S. 75 after the couple argued and she demanded to get out of the car.

An investigator later testified that Sweat told him he cut Ashley Taylor’s throat with a knife he’d thrown at her.

Sweat had previously been questioned in the Weleetka girls’ slayings, but wasn’t charged in their deaths until investigators linked incriminating statements he allegedly made with video confessions and evidence showing he owned one of the guns used in their murders.

Sweat allegedly told OSBI investigators that Taylor had threatened Sweat that if he ever left her, she would tell police that he killed the Weleetka girls.

The criminal case against Sweat has dragged on through numerous hearings and challenges in the Oklahoma court system since 2011, when he was arrested and charged with the three murders.

At a July 3 hearing, Sweat agreed to waive his right to a jury trial in exchange for the state not seeking the death penalty. If he is convicted of murder, the only options for his punishment under Oklahoma law will now be life in prison without parole, or life with the possibility of parole.

In May, the judge ruled that video confessions taped by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation during interviews with Sweat would be allowed as evidence.

Sweat’s defense attorneys had challenged the legality of the videos, saying their client wasn’t competent enough to waive his Miranda rights before those video interviews. Sweat passed a variety of competency exams, prosecutors argued.

In one of the video confessions, Sweat tells investigators that he shot at “two monsters” and may have been seeing demons when Whitaker, 11, and Paschal-Placker, 13, were slain.

The document filed by prosecutors Tuesday does not specify if the gun Sweat threatened his ex-girlfriend with in 2008 is the same gun that prosecutors say he used to kill the girls.

At his 2013 preliminary hearing, prosecutors traced ownership of the Glock handgun used to kill the girls from its forging in Austria to its eventual purchase by Sweat. He bought the gun from a police officer he met while working the drive-through at the Henryetta McDonald’s.

Parish assured defense attorneys Wednesday that he could be an impartial “trier of fact” and would presume Sweat’s innocence unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by the state.

“I’m able to separate the wheat from the chaff,” Parish said.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/kevin-sweat-in-court-wednesday-trial-expected-to-begin-aug/article_648f54a7-6226-5a3c-a0c9-2e6a9e18557f.html

Man pleads guilty in deaths of girls, fiancee

© AP Photo: Sue Ogrocki
1 hr ago | By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS of Associated Press

OKEMAH, Okla. (AP) — A man accused of killing two girls along a rural Oklahoma road in 2008, but who wasn't arrested until after being questioned in his fiancée's death three years later, pleaded guilty in both cases Thursday.

Kevin Sweat, 28, entered guilty pleas to three counts of first-degree murder in Okfuskee County District Court. Prosecutors dropped plans to seek the death penalty after Sweat agreed to waive his right to a jury trial, which was scheduled to begin Monday.

The girls — 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker and 13-year-old Taylor Paschal-Placker — were fatally shot as they walked down a road near Weleetka in rural eastern Oklahoma. Sweat was not suspected in their deaths until police questioned him in the 2011 slaying of his fiancee, Ashley Taylor.

Investigators said Sweat confessed during a videotaped interview with state investigators, telling them he shot the two girls because he thought they were "monsters" coming at him.

Sweat's attorneys had argued that Sweat was not mentally competent when he waived his Miranda rights before participating in the interview, but a judge agreed this year to allow prosecutors to use the video as evidence. The video had been played at previous hearings.

"I see demons, vampires ... monsters, demons, whatever. I do have some problems," Sweat told an investigator during the interview. "I was scared. ... They were still coming at me, so I shot them."

The three murder cases were combined after prosecutors suggested a connection while questioning Sweat's mother and her cousin during a pre-trial hearing about statements Sweat made about his relationship with Taylor and his desire to break up with her.

Prosecutors asked if Sweat had told them Taylor would spread lies about him if he broke off the relationship, including blaming him for the girls' deaths.



http://www.seattlepi.com/news/crime/article/Oklahoma-man-pleads-guilty-in-girls-deaths-5660316.php

Kevin Sweat tells Fox 25 he will withdraw guilty pleas

Posted: Sep 30, 2014 3:21 PM CDT
Updated: Sep 30, 2014 4:55 PM CDT
By: Phil Cross, Investigative Reporter

OKLAHOMA CITY - The man who plead guilty to three murders now wants to take it back. Kevin Sweat contacted Fox 25 to say he's filled out the paperwork to withdraw his guilty pleas in the deaths of his fiancé Ashley Taylor, Taylor Placker and Skyla Whitaker.

Sweat plead guilty after submitting a handwritten note to the court which indicated he believed his previous statements to the OSBI would be enough to convict him of both his fiancé's death and the Weleetka murders.

During a phone call Tuesday afternoon, Sweat told Fox 25's Phil Cross he only agreed to plead guilty to “talk with the FBI.” Previously Sweat said he could provide federal investigators information that would “lead to federal indictments.” However on Tuesday, Sweat said he believed the FBI agents did not take his information seriously enough so he decided to withdraw his pleas.

Sweat said he has filled out the paperwork to change his pleas, but is waiting on his lawyers to pick them up and filed them with the court.

Fox 25 contacted the Okfuskee County District Attorney's office who has been prosecuting the case. The prosecutor said she anticipated Sweat might try to withdraw his plea, but that it will be up to the judge in the case to accept or reject that his withdrawal.

Fox 25 asked Sweat why he was changing his plea now and if he was willing to face a trial.  Sweat said if the prosecutors think their case is strong they can ‘go for it.'

Prosecutor Maxey Reilly said the evidence against Sweat is “pretty overwhelming.”

Sweat told Fox 25, and a court-ordered investigator, that he doesn't remember how the fire started that burned the body of his then fiancé. He told Fox 25 that he does remember a gun going off, but he's not sure who fired the gun and ‘blacked out' after Ashley died. He said he did not want to talk about the evidence in detail over the phone. All of his phone calls from jail are recorded and reviewed by investigators.

It was a review of those phone calls that led investigators to two additional witnesses that provided a motive for the murders of Placker and Whitaker.

http://www.okcfox.com/story/26668474/kevin-sweat-tells-fox-25-he-will-withdraw-guilty-pleas

Oklahoma killer attacks lawyer with razor before sentencing: prosecutor 

Kevin Sweat smuggled a blade into the Okfuskee County Courthouse and pounced after deputies removed his cuffs, authorities say. The confessed murderer wanted to withdraw his guilty plea for slaying two young girls and his fiancee.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, October 25, 2014, 4:44 PM

KOKI - Tulsa, OK







KOKI - Tulsa, OK

Talk about violating the attorney-client privilege.

A deranged killer sliced his lawyer’s neck with a razor just before he was sentenced to life for the murders of two girls and his fiancee, authorities said.

Kevin Sweat, 28, apparently smuggled the blade on Friday into the Okfuskee County Courthouse and attacked one of his two attorneys, opening a small cut on the man’s neck, the county district attorney said at a news conference.

Terrified relatives of Sweat’s victims cowered inside the crowded courtroom as deputies rushed into a side chamber to squash the attack, Fox 23 reported.

“It scared me,” Patricia Taylor, the mother of one of the victims, told reporters. “I thought he might just come in the courtroom and start attacking people.”


Sue Ogrocki/APKevin Sweat, center, is escorted in the Okfuskee County Courthouse on Friday, shortly before he allegedly attacked one of his lawyers with a smuggled razor.

Sweat pleaded guilty in July to killing his 23-year-old fiancee, Ashley Taylor, in 2011. He also confessed to shooting 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker and 13-year-old Taylor Paschal-Placker in 2008. The little girls’ bodies were found in a ditch alongside a country road.

Sweat apparently had a change of heart leading up to the sentencing. He called a Fox 25 reporter and said he planned to withdraw his plea, because he’d wanted to meet with FBI agents but didn’t think they were taking him seriously, the station reported.

He claimed he was just waiting for his lawyers to file the paperwork.

The attorneys met Sweat on Friday in a small conference room inside the courthouse to wrap up the final details before sentencing. He was handcuffed and under heavy guard when he arrived, but his law enforcement escorts unlocked the cuffs once he was inside the room, which isn’t uncommon, District Attorney Max Cook told reporters.


Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation/APThe bodies of Skyla Whitaker, 11, (L) and Taylor Placker, 13, were found in a ditch in 2008.

The lawyers tried to have a quick meeting alone, and Sweat pounced, Cook said.

“He attacked one of his lawyers and inflicted slight injuries around the neck area,” the prosecutor said.

The skirmish only delayed the inevitable for Sweat, who was strip-searched after the ambush and hauled in front of Judge Lawrence Parish.

“Today is judgment day,” Parish told him.


Sue Ogrocki/AP Patricia Taylor, the mother of murder victim Ashley Taylor, says she was worried her daughter’s killer, Kevin Sweat, was going to burst into the courtroom and ‘start attacking people’ when she heard the commotion on Friday.
Sue Ogrocki/AP A memorial to Skyla Whitaker and Taylor Paschal-Placker remains on a dirt road in Weleetka, Okla., six years after their murders.
Sue Ogrocki/AP Okfuskee County District Attorney Max Cook on Friday tells reporters confessed killer Kevin Sweat smuggled a razor into the courthouse and attacked his lawyer before sentencing.



The judge rejected Sweat’s request to withdraw his plea and sentenced him to three life sentences for the murders without possibility for parole.

The bespeckled killer, wearing a fresh bandage on his nose, stood alongside his remaining lawyer before deputies led him away.

The family and friends of his victims welcomed the sentence but said it wouldn’t change what he’d done.

“No matter what, my daughter’s still gone,” Michael Taylor, father of Ashley Taylor, said. “The pain is always going to be there, and that’s something you can’t take away.”


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/oklahoma-killer-cuts-lawyer-razor-sentencing-da-article-1.1987034

Why is Aiyana Jones story in with the murders of Taylor and Skyla?

What is a tragedy and travesty is that the citizens of our country don't defend the constitution. Elite forces have burst into many homes of people of differing races and ethnicities and shot and terrorized and maimed the folks dwelling inside. Their pets have been killed and they've targeted wrong homes. This entire situation just should not have occurred in the first place!

Who are Jones and Owens accused of murdering? What race was he? Is it considered a "hate" crime? Probably not, but why not? Most murders are hate crimes aren't they - a life is taken that shouldn't have been because someone didn't like the person.

When officers of any American government agency burst into a home they should be held responsible for the consequences immediately. This is happening too often in our country and should not be tolerated and it will only get worse. No one was held accountable for the murder of dozens of children in Waco either. They were white children so it isn't about race as much as it is about the apathy of American citizens who do not value the freedoms that were once an integral part of our heritage. JMHO

Oops.  I was posting while cooking and just screwed up.  Sorry. 

Thanks for letting me know.

I hope I've rectified it correctly. 

Now that we know I can't multitask we'll see how I do at BUI. 

considering you were cooking AND posting I think you did very well - only hope it didn't effect your cooking the same way!

Remembering when my youngest was making brownies and he called in to me "I put the 1 cup of oil in, but what does the slash 4 after it mean?" - he'd just started first grade.

That's sooooo funny.  Our children can be sooooo entertaining.  Of course, it's always funnier after the crisis is over. 

Dinner was good.  Pork chops, black eyed peas, turnip greens, cornbread.  Every now and then I get a real hankering for good old country food.