NEWARK — A decision is pending on whether statements made to police by one of two suspects in the 1978 slayings of five Newark teenagers are admissible. Philander Hampton is scheduled to appear today before state Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello in Newark. He appeared in court Tuesday, but no ruling was made. Hampton and his cousin, Lee Evans,...
Philander Hampton appears in court in Newark in January. He is one of two men accused of killing five teenagers in 1978,NEWARK — A decision is pending on whether statements made to police by one of two suspects in the 1978 slayings of five Newark teenagers are admissible.
Philander Hampton is scheduled to appear today before state Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello in Newark. He appeared in court Tuesday, but no ruling was made.
Hampton and his cousin, Lee Evans, were charged last March with the murders. Hampton has been in custody on $5 million bail. Evans was released last summer after his bail was reduced.
Authorities say the two men rounded up the teens, locked them in an abandoned building, then burned it down. It was allegedly in retribution for some stolen drugs.
Hampton's statements in November 2008 marked a turning point in one of New Jersey's longest-running cold cases.
Previous coverage:
• Ruling is delayed on admissibility of suspect's statements about 1978 killing of Newark teens
• Ruling delayed on whether to suppress statements by suspect charged in 1978 Newark teens case
• Man charged in 1978 slaying of Newark teens wants statement to police suppressed
• Prosecutors make unusual request of seeking psychological test for suspect in slaying of Newark teens
• Judge sets date for trial of two men accused in decades-old slaying of Newark teens
• Trial date set for two men accused in 1978 slayings of 5 Newark teens
• Man charged in slaying of 5 Newark teens in '78 sees contradictions in accounts of fateful night
• Lee Evans, accused of killing five Newark teens in 1978, returns to court today