A judge entered a plea of not guilty Tuesday for Dennis Rader, the former church leader, city employee and Boy Scout leader who is charged with 10 counts of murder in the BTK serial killings that terrorized Wichita since the 1970s.
Rader chose to stand mute during the brief arraignment and asked District Court Judge Gregory Waller to enter the plea for him. Waller entered the not-guilty plea and set a trial date of June 27, although most expect the trial date to eventually be pushed back.
Rader, 60, a former city compliance officer from suburban Park City, was arrested Feb. 25 and charged in 10 deaths linked to the serial killer known as BTK, which stands for “Bind, Torture, Kill.”
Prosecutors can't seek the death penalty, because all of the crimes were committed before 1994, when Kansas enacted a capital punishment law.
