The Latest: Man charged in 2-state rampage to stand trial

MONTGOMERY CITY, Mo. – The Latest on legal action against a Mexican national accused of killing five men in Kansas and Missouri in March (all times local):

5:15 p.m.

A Missouri judge has decided that at Mexican national accused of killing a New Florence man as part of a March rampage will stand trial.

Montgomery County Associate Circuit Judge Kelly Broniec set a June 1 arraignment date for Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino following a preliminary hearing Thursday.

Serrano-Vitorino is accused of killing a Kansas City, Kansas, neighbour and three other men at the neighbour’s home March 7, then driving nearly 200 miles and killing 49-year-old Randy Nordman in New Florence the following day.

Missouri prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Serrano-Vitorino is in the country illegally. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say he was deported in April 2004 and illegally re-entered the country sometime later.

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10 a.m.

A Mexican national accused of killing five men in a two-state rampage is expected to be in court Thursday.

Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino is accused of killing a Kansas City, Kansas, neighbour and three other men at the neighbour’s home March 7, then driving nearly 200 miles and killing 49-year-old Randy Nordman in New Florence, Missouri, the following day.

A preliminary hearing on the first-degree murder, burglary and armed criminal action charges that Serrano-Vitorino faces in Missouri is Thursday afternoon in Montgomery County.

The state Attorney General’s office is assisting in the prosecution, and the death penalty is being sought.

Serrano-Vitorino is in the country illegally. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say he was deported in April 2004 and illegally re-entered the country sometime later.