Monday, April 23rd 2012, 9:28 am
The preliminary hearing scheduled to begin Monday for a man accused of killing his fiancee and two young Weleetka girls has been continued until May 22.
Kevin Sweat wore a protective vest and was heavily guarded as he was escorted out of the Okfuskee County Courthouse.
He's accused of killing Skyla Whitaker and Taylor Paschal Placker in Weleetka in 2008. But he was in court Monday to face charges of killing his girlfriend, Ashley Taylor, last summer.
It was the day Taylor's family members were expecting answers as why she was killed.
The judge delayed Monday's hearing after Sweat's attorney said he didn't have enough time examine more than a thousand pages of discovery filed by the prosecution late last week.
Patricia Taylor is Ashley's mother.
"I'd like to get rid of him, that's all I can say. I'd like him to not be on this earth anymore," said Patricia Taylor.
"She was a wonderful girl. She has a disabled brother and sister and she was really good with them; she helped me out with them a lot," the victim's mother said.
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Court records show that Taylor went missing last summer after telling her mom she was going to Louisiana to marry Sweat. Sweat changed his story several times while talking with investigators.
In the final version Sweat said he cut Taylor's throat after she tried to kill herself and dumped her body in a lake in Henryetta. No body was ever found, and investigators said they later discovered human bones and glasses that matched Taylor's prescription in a burn pile near Sweat's father's house in Weleetka.
"I'm just upset because I was wanting to get it going," said Patricia Taylor of the court delay.
Both Taylor's mother and father are frustrated with the delay but admit it's important the court follow all the right steps to avoid problems in the future. They say no matter what happens, this case is about their daughter and not her boyfriend of four years.
12/9/2011 Related Story: Suspect In Weleetka Girls' Murders Says He Shot 'Two Monsters'
"The only way to survive is to lay the hate down, and that's what I did," said Michael Taylor, Ashley's father.
"I made that personal decision right away, and we'll let the courts decide what they're going to do with him and I try not to even think about it."
At the end of the proceeding the judge lined all of the witnesses up and apologized to each one individually for the delay.
In the Taylor case, authorities plan to seek the death penalty for Sweat.
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