WARRENSBURG, Mo. (AP) — A prosecutor told a judge Tuesday that a Missouri man accused of killing two brothers from Wisconsin admitted to authorities that he disposed of the bodies but denied killing the men.
Special prosecutor Stephen Sokoloff made the argument during a hearing in which a judge denied a defense request to have two charges of abandoning a corpse dismissed in the case against Garland Nelson, of Braymer, the St. Joseph News-Press reports.
Nelson’s attorneys argued that a person who is charged with murder cannot also be charged with abandoning the corpse of the alleged victim without violating the suspect’s right to remain silent and against self-incrimination.
But prosecutors contend that Nelson could have followed Missouri law by anonymously reporting where the brothers’ bodies were located, thus avoiding concerns about self-incrimination.
