Oklahoma Appeals Court Rejects Triple Murder's Request To Withdraw Guilty Pleas

BY RANDY ELLIS Staff Writer rellis@oklahoman.comThe Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has rejected a Henryetta man's request to withdraw his guilty pleas in the triple murders of two Weleetka girls and his 23-year-old fiancee. Kevin Joe Sweat, 29, pleaded guilty last year to shooting Skyla Whitaker, 11, and Taylor Placker, 13, to death in 2008 as they walked along a country road near Weleetka. He also pleaded guilty to murdering and burning the body of fiancee Ashley Taylor in 2011— telling investigators that she had threatened to tell police he had killed the girls near Weleetka if he ever left her. Sweat entered a blind plea, leaving sentencing up to Okfuskee County District Judge Lawrence Parish.Read more on NewsOK.com