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May 9, 2008 2:56 pm US/Pacific
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SF Couple Plead Not Guilty In Landlord Murder Case
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ―
A San Francisco couple arrested in early April in Mexico in connection with the December murder of their San Francisco housemate pleaded not guilty to murder and accessory to murder charges Friday in San Francisco Superior Court.
Richard Carelli and Michelle Pinkerton, both 38, have remained in custody since their April 7 arrest in Baja Mexico, after allegedly fleeing San Francisco in late January as police investigated the murder of Leonard Milo Hoskins, 49. They reportedly had their two young children with them at the time of their arrest.
Hoskins' body was later found in a van impounded by police during the investigation, but not before Carelli and Pinkerton had already left San Francisco.
"Not guilty," Carelli told Judge Garrett Wong Friday morning after he was formally arraigned on murder charges, with the special allegation that he used a deadly weapon to commit the murder.
Prosecutors allege Carelli fatally struck Hoskins with a wooden stick and a metal pipe on Dec. 22.
The couple had been living in an in-law unit at Hoskins' Lamartine Street home at the time. A neighbor reportedly told police Carelli and Hoskins had been fighting in the garage of the home the night of the murder.
Pinkerton Friday pleaded not guilty to an accessory to murder charge, for allegedly harboring Carelli after Hoskins' death.
Outside the courtroom, Pinkerton's attorney Tony Tamburello said "people should keep an open mind" about the case.
"It's not as previously described (in the media)," Tamburello said, "that it was just an unprovoked assault."
"That's just not true," he said.
Carelli's attorney Rebecca Young declined to discuss the specifics
of the case until she received all the evidence from prosecutors, but she did offer, "It will be a fascinating case as it unfolds."
"My client loves his children and is devastated at being separated from them ... and deeply loves his wife very much," said Young.
Carelli remained in custody on $5 million bail; Pinkerton on $1 million bail. They are both due back in court June 11 for a status hearing and to set a date for a preliminary hearing on the case.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)