MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG)— Mass shooting suspect Ezekiel Kelly pled not guilty in court Tuesday to 26 charges relating to the shooting spree on September 7 that left three people dead and four people injured.
After entering his plea, Kelly’s attorney asked the judge to waive the formal reading of the indictment to save time.
The DA said a grand jury indicted 19-year-old Kelly on two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Richard Clark and Allison Parker along with over two dozen charges including another count of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted first-degree murder, and a list of gun and robbery charges.
Despite Kelly allegedly showing himself live streaming while behind the wheel of a car, he was not charged with reckless driving.
In court, Kelly told the judge he could not afford an attorney. He will continue to be represented by public defender Jennifer Case who is also representing Cleotha Abston-Henderson, the man accused of killing Memphis jogger Eliza Fletcher.
“Ms. Case is an experienced veteran attorney, highly qualified, so I am sure she is capable of handling whatever has been assigned to her,” said Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy.
Prosecutors said it is possible that they could combine Kelly’s first-degree murder charge for Dwayne Tunstall’s death along with the additional 26 charges.
“They will all be joined at a later date, we will be filing a motion for joinder, defense counsel is aware of that and I expect that all of these matters will be tried together,” said Shelby County Assistant District Attorney Chris Lareau.
For now, they are two separate cases.
Mulroy said he still expects Kelly’s October 18th hearing on the Tunstall murder to move forward after a judge issued subpoenas to three witnesses who did not show up to a court hearing last week.
“We are still planning to do a preliminary hearing and we are confident that the witnesses will attend at that time,” Mulroy said.
Mulroy said prosecuting this case will take time.
“Multiple crime scenes, multiple victims, so there is a lot of discovery that will take place and the discovery process alone will take multiple months,” he said.
Before the shooting spree, Kelly was released from jail on March 16 after serving 11 months of a three-year sentence for an aggravated assault plea.
