One Trial For Man Charged With Killing Weleetka Girls, Girlfriend

An Okfuskee County judge has granted a motion by a man charged in the shooting deaths of two young girls near Weleetka and the death of his 23-year-old girlfriend to be tried for both crimes at the same time.

District Judge Lawrence Parish issued the ruling Wednesday in the case 27-year-old Kevin Sweat. Sweat faces three counts of first-degree murder for the July 2011 death of Ashley Taylor and the 2008 shooting deaths of 13-year-old Taylor Placker and 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Parish ordered that the two cases be tried together starting Jan. 27, 2014, in Bristow.

Sweat asked that the cases be combined because Parish previously ruled that prosecutors could use evidence from the deaths of the two girls during Sweat's trial for Taylor's death.

5/15/2013 Related Story: Man Charged In Deaths Of Weleetka Girls, Girlfriend Wants One Trial