Monroe County District Attorney David Christine intends to seek the death penalty for the 59-year-old.
The Monroe County man accused of killing three people at a municipal meeting in August pleaded not guilty today to homicide charges.
Monroe County District Attorney David Christine intends to seek the death penalty for Rockne Newell if he is convicted.
Newell, 59, had his formal arraignment in Monroe County Court Court on three counts of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of reckless endangerment.
He appeared via video before Delaware County Court Judge Joseph Cronin Jr. at the courthouse in Stroudsburg, according to a report in the Pocono Record.
Newell sprayed dozens of rifle rounds as he targeted officials in Ross Township, the Pocono Mountains municipality where he lived, officials said.
Killed were township zoning officer David Fleetwood, 62, and residents Gerard Kozic, 53, and James V. LaGuardia, 64. Wounded were Gerard Kozic's wife, Linda Kozic, and resident Frank Piraino Jr.
Prosecutors have said the junk dealer was upset over the loss of his debris-strewn property on Flyte Road after a lengthy court fight with the township. The township had acted on complaints that he lived in a storage shed, built an illegal culvert and used a bucket outside as a toilet.
The township supervisors were about 15 minutes into their public meeting Aug. 5 when “things went terribly awry,” township solicitor John Dunn, who was one of Newell’s alleged targets but escaped injury, testified at the suspect’s preliminary hearing last month.
Newell began shooting through a front window — with .223-caliber rifle bullets piercing the wall inside the supervisors’ meeting room — and began cutting down victims as they fled the building, according to state police. He had retrieved a .44-caliber handgun from his car and returned when he was subdued by two men who had attended the meeting, authorities said.
Christine said security for the trial will be the same as the level of extra security provided for Newell’s preliminary hearing, according to the Pocono Record.
Newell remains in Monroe County Correctional Facility without bail.