Trial opens in killing of pregnant woman, toddler
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DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Prosecutors allege that a suburban Philadelphia man killed a pregnant woman and her 4-year-old daughter because he wanted her drug business.
The Philadelphia Inquirer (http://bit.ly/1QacP22 ) reports that the remarks came Wednesday during opening statements in the Bucks County trial of 22-year-old Marcel Johnson of Levittown.
Authorities allege that he stabbed 22-year-old Ebony Talley and R’Mani Rankins in November 2013 and then set fire to the Levittown apartment to destroy evidence.
Mike Weintraub, chief of prosecution for the district attorney’s office, says Johnson sold heroin with Talley and he sometimes stayed at the apartment.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Defense attorney Craig Penglase says his client’s DNA wasn’t found at the crime scene, and someone else’s DNA was found on the body of the adult victim.