LOS ANGELES -- Gregory Matthew Miley pleaded innocent today to charges he strangled two teen-agers a string of at least 40 homosexual sex slayings of young men and boys that have become known as the 'Freeway Killings.'
During a brief arraignment, Superior Court Judge William Keene set the trial for Feb. 23 and Jan. 15 for pretrial motions. He also appointed Beverly Hills attorney Larry Steinberg to defend the 19-year-old suspect.
Miley has described to authorities in graphic detail how he and William Bonin strangled thetwo boys with their own shirts in the rear of Bonin's van. The confession was disclosed Wednesday in previously sealed testimony.
Miley is accused of killing Charles Miranda, 14, and James McCabe, 12, whose bodies were found Feb. 3 and 6. Bonin, 33, is charged with the Miranda and McCabe killings and 12 others.
Three other defendants have been charged with various slayings in concert with Bonin.
Following his arrest in Houston Aug. 22, Miley reportedly told Sheriff's homicide Detective David Kusher that the first victim was a young homosexual he and Bonin picked up on a Hollywood street.
Miley said Bonin sodomized the victim and that he attempted to, then held the boy while Bonin 'tied his hands, tied his feet, then tied his feet to his hands ...,' the detective testified during a preliminary hearing Dec. 1.
Kusher said Miley told him Bonin grabbed the victim's shirt and put it over the boy's head and began twisting it. While Bonin was twisting the shirt 'like a towel,' he asked Miley to hold it while Bonin got an iron bar.
'Bonin took the iron bar, stuck it in the shirt, and began twisting it in a corkscrew-type effect until the boy was dead,' Kusher testified.
According to testimony, Miley told the detective they dumped the victim's body, then drove to Huntington Beach, where they spotted a boy Miley described as between 10 and 12 years old.
The boy entered the van voluntarily, Miley told Kusher, and got in the back with Bonin, where Miley said he heard 'crying sounds' being made by the victim.
Miley said, according to Kusher's testimony, he drove a 'very, very long distance, and the next thing he (Miley) realized was that Bonin had this young boy down and he was strangling him, again with his shirt.'
'Miley admitted that he again helped hold this boy down, but there wasn't much to holding him down because he was so small, and that he helped by twisting the shirt 'around the boy's neck a little bit' until he was dead,' the detective said.
Miley reportedly told Kusher they took the boy 'and deposited him next to a dumpster ...'
