CLEVELAND: A former Cleveland school bus driver accused of kidnapping and holding three women captive for years pleaded not guilty yesterday to hundreds of criminal charges, but his lawyers said they may seek to avert a trial.
A grand jury on Friday added 648 charges to a previous indictment against Ariel Castro, who is accused of abducting the first of the women in 2002 and holding them captive until they escaped from his house on May 6 along with a 6-year-old girl he fathered with one of the women.
During a brief court appearance, a lawyer for Castro, 53, entered the not guilty pleas and the judge kept in place an $8 million bond and an order that Castro have no contact with the three women and the child.
Law enforcement officials have said that the women, Gina DeJesus, 23, Michelle Knight, 32, and Amanda Berry, 27, were kept bound in chains or rope for periods of time and that they endured starvation, beatings and repeated sexual assaults.
The most serious of the charges against Castro, two counts of aggravated murder under a fetal homicide law over allegations he forced Knight to miscarry, could potentially carry a death sentence if prosecutors choose to pursue it.
Joe Frolik, a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County prosecutor, told reporters a committee that considers death penalty charges is still deliberating and prosecutors have reserved the right to bring a third indictment that includes a death penalty charge.
According to the indictment, Knight was pregnant at least three times from September 2002 to December 2003. Castro’s aggravated murder charge stems from allegations that he forced her to miscarry in a fourth pregnancy from 2006 to 2007.
Castro has not sought to delay the start of his trial, which is scheduled for Aug. 5, but defense attorneys again said on Wednesday they are seeking a plea agreement in the case.
“We are preparing for that trial however with the goal in mind to try to resolve this for the fairness of the women as well as the community so everyone can put this behind them,” Castro’s attorney, Craig Weintraub, told reporters.
“Either we are going to have a plea or we are going to have a trial on August 5,” he said.
REUTERS
