3 plead not guilty in Spokane in torture killing

Thursday, May 19, 2011

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- Three people accused in the torture slaying of a man whose body was found in the trunk of a burning car pleaded not guilty Thursday to aggravated murder charges in Spokane County Superior Court.

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. If convicted, 20-year-old Taylor J. Wolf, 18-year-old Justice Sims and his sister, 19-year-old Breeanna Sims, would be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The three are accused of killing 22-year-old Nicholas Thoreson of Cheney whose body was found April 13 in his car.

Investigators say he was beaten and tortured with a machete for hours in the garage of a Spokane Valley apartment before he was shot.

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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesman.com