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Bar slaying of 5 moving to trial

8:44 PM, Mar 15, 2013   |    comments
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DENVER - A judge heard evidence on whether three men should stand trial in the stabbing deaths of five people during a robbery at a Denver bar that netted $170. The judge decided on Friday to move the case to trial.

Closing arguments were Friday afternoon in a preliminary hearing for 22-year-old Dexter Lewis, 27-year-old Joseph Hill and his brother, 24-year-old Lynell Jonathan Hill. 

They're accused of killing four women and a man and a setting fire to Fero's Bar & Grill to cover up the crime early Oct. 17. 

At the beginning of the preliminary hearing, Denver Detective Mark Crider testified the trio hatched the robbery plan because Lynell Hill needed money for an unrelated court case. 

Crider testified that a federal informant who was in the bar with the trio turned them in.

According to the prosecution, the victims were thrown on the ground, beaten and were asked to give up their wallets. When the police got to the scene, the prosecution said the suspects held BB guns over the victims as they were stabbed to death.

The victims were 63-year-old Young Suk Fero, 21-year-old Daria M. Pohl, 44-year-old Kellene Fallon, 29-year-old Ross Richter and 45-year-old Tereasa Beesley.

Richter was from Overland Park, Kan. The others were from the Denver area.

The defense for Lewis argues he should only be charged with one count of felony murder and not five.

The judge said there is enough cause for felony murder charges. The bond was denied for all three suspects.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)