Man pleads not guilty to murder charges in Wichita couple’s deaths

One of two men charged with killing a Wichita couple in their home last October pleaded not guilty to capital murder and other crimes Thursday morning.

Steven Wade Edwards, 20, also waived his right to a preliminary hearing and asked Sedgwick County District Judge Jeffrey Goering for a jury trial.

His case was placed on the court’s Nov. 16 trial docket, but it likely will be moved to a later date to give attorneys more time to prepare.

Edwards is charged with capital murder – and two counts of first-degree premeditated murder in the alternative – in the Oct. 16, 2014, shooting deaths of Godofredo and Martha Moreno, as well as counts of aggravated burglary, burglary, felony theft and criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said Thursday by e-mail that he does not anticipate seeking the death penalty in Edwards’ case.

In Kansas, a capital murder conviction carries a possible sentence of death or life in prison without parole eligibility. Prosecutors can charge a defendant with capital murder when two or more people are killed at once if the murder is intentional and premeditated.

They also decide whether to seek a death sentence.

Edwards is accused of shooting the Morenos multiple times in a bedroom of their house at 642 S. Ida, just southeast of Kellogg and Washington, while trying to collect on a debt he thought the couple’s son owned him.

The Morenos’ son later found them dead and their Kia Sorento SUV and a cellphone missing. Police later found the SUV on fire near 111th Street South and West Street.

The couple were in their 70s.

The other man charged in connection with the killings is facing a Nov. 30 jury trial on two counts of first-degree felony murder and one count of aggravated robbery. The police affidavit says Carlos Delacadena-Edwards went to the Morenos’ home with Edwards on Oct. 16, but he claims he was in the living room when the couple were shot.

Delacadena-Edwards was 17 at the time of the killings but is being tried as an adult. He also has pleaded not guilty.

During a preliminary hearing, witnesses testify before a judge, who then decides whether there’s enough evidence to try a defendant on the criminal counts charged. But the defendant can choose to forgo it.

Edwards on Thursday was in court with his court-appointed defense attorneys Mark Rudy and Jason Smartt. Dressed in a green jail jumpsuit, he answered with a “yep” when asked by the judge whether he understood his rights to a preliminary hearing.

After the hearing, he smiled and nodded at two people sitting in the courtroom’s gallery as he was being escorted out by sheriff’s deputies.

This story was originally published October 22, 2015 at 12:57 PM with the headline "Man pleads not guilty to murder charges in Wichita couple’s deaths."