The prosecution laid ots its case yesterday against a Marine accused of killing two women in Twentynine Palms March 24. Reporter David Haldane was in court and files this story…
Rafael Aikens will stand trial for double murder. That’s the upshot of yesterday’s preliminary hearing at which the prosecution outlined its case against the 22-year-old Marine machine-gunner accused of killing Christy McKissic, 32, and her mother, Renee Metcalf, 62, both of Twentynine Palms. Prosecutor Shannon Faherty called four witnesses, all homicide detectives with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. The gist: an eyewitness identified Aikens as the killer from a police photo lineup; a close friend told investigators that Aikens had spoken of killing two people; and a handgun Aikens gave to another friend to clean was later identified by a firearms expert as the murder weapon.
Defense attorney Donald Calabria offered no witnesses on Aikens’ behalf.
Arraignment was set for August 17 in Joshua Tree Superior Court.
