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Testimony to be reread in Newark killings

NEWARK, N.J., April 4 (UPI) -- In their third day of deliberations on a triple killing Monday, a Newark, N.J., jury wants to review the defendant's testimony.

Alexander Alfaro visited his cousin, Nancy Ramirez, a day after the Aug. 4, 2007, schoolyard killings in which a fourth person was wounded.

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Ramirez testified he admitted he had "done something very bad" and held a knife at the scene, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported.

That point is key because the prosecution says Alfaro used a machete on one of the victims before she was shot and did so willingly.

Alfaro confessed to the machete attack in a statement to police but recanted last week, charging police coercion.

Alfaro also says his half-brother Rodolfo Godinez forced him to go to the schoolyard and bring the machete.

Ramirez never testified her cousin used the machete, only that he held it, which the defense does not dispute.

Alfaro is one of six defendants. Godinez and another man are serving consecutive life terms, and three cases are pending.

The prosecution says the crime was gang-linked

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