Three of the four young men arrested in the murder of Sean Taylor, a star player with the National Football League's Washington Redskins, were ordered held without bond on murder charges on Saturday, a defense lawyer said.

 

Venjah Hunte, 20, Eric Rivera, 17, and Charles Wardlow, 18, made their preliminary appearances in a state court in Fort Myers on Florida's Gulf coast.

 

"They are charged with first-degree felony murder, home invasion and burglary," said lawyer John E. Evans III, who represents Wardlow.

 

Evans said he expected his client would be transported back to the Miami area, where Taylor was shot on Monday, within the next two days.

 

The fourth man arrested in the murder, Jason Scott Mitchell, 19, will face the same counts but did not appear in court on Saturday, the Miami Herald reported.

 

Taylor, 24, was shot in the groin. He died the next day in the hospital after losing massive amounts of blood.

 

Miami-Dade Police arrested the suspects on Friday in the Fort Myers area, about 150 miles northwest of Miami. They said the men intended to burglarize Taylor's home and had not expected to find anyone there.

 

Evans said three of the suspects had given statements to police, which "appear to describe a situation where they were going to take physical items from his home and had no idea Mr. Taylor was at home."

 

(AFP via China Daily December 3, 2007)