Wednesday, March 4, 2009

A preliminary hearing is under way for three Kansas prison inmates who are charged with capital murder in the Oct. 27, 2007, death of a fellow inmate.

Jason Strand, Kendrick Shears and Charvell Robinson, all 23, face the death penalty, and are represented by the Kansas Death Penalty Defense Unit. They are accused of killing 28-year-old David Warren Jr., whose body was found in a shower at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility.

Cpl. Michael Collier testified Tuesday that another inmate told him that there was a body in the shower. Collier found Warren bleeding from his left eye and making noises that sounded "almost like he was snoring."

An autopsy showed a long, thin metal object had entered Warren's brain through his eye and killed him.

The hearing is expected to last all week.