AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A 20-year-old man on trial in the slaying of a University of Texas freshman on campus in 2016 has taken the stand and denied killing her.
Meechaiel Criner speaks on the stand during his murder tria in District Judge David Wahlberg’s 167th district courtroom on Wednesday, July 18, 2018. Meechaiel Criner the transient man accused of killing University of Texas student Haruka Weiser in April 2016 (RICARDO B. BRAZZIELL / AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
Defense attorney Ariel Payan on Wednesday asked Meechaiel Criner: “Mick, did you kill Haruka Weiser?” Criner replied: “No, sir.”
Criner also testified that he’d never seen her.
Weiser, an 18-year-old dance major from Portland, Oregon, was walking to her dormitory after leaving a rehearsal when she was strangled and sexually assaulted.
Criner, a 17-year-old foster care runaway at the time of the killing, is charged with capital murder. He faces a sentence of life in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors have said that items belonging to Weiser were found at places where Criner was staying. In his testimony, Criner described taking items from trash bins.
