A 19-year-old man has been charged with five counts of aggravated murder in connection with a quintuple homicide at an east-side Cleveland home last November.
James Sparks-Henderson pleaded not guilty to those charges in court this morning.
Police say they had interviewed Sparks-Henderson about the shooting before, and arrested him this week. They say he was carrying a gun that matched shell casings and bullets found at the scene.
Cuyahoga County prosecutor Timothy McGinty says he offered to forego the death penalty in exchange for a confession.
"If he testified truthfully, honestly, submitted to a lie detector test, I made a determination to not seek the death penalty," McGinty told reporters at a Friday press conference. "And that's what I did yesterday with this individual."
The Associated Press reports Sparks-Henderson's attorney argues the confession was coerced. Sparks-Henderson is being held on $7.5 million bond.
The shooting last November killed two teenagers, a 60-year-old man, a pregnant mother and her unborn child.
