LAS VEGAS (AP) - An ex-convict from Mississippi pleaded not guilty in Las Vegas to murder and sex assault charges in the cold case slayings of three women 16 years apart.
A judge on Wednesday set a Jan. 7 date for Nathaniel Burkett's next court appearance.
He's accused of killing 22-year-old Barbara Ann Cox in April 1978 and of killing 27-year-old Tina Gayle Mitchell and 32-year-old Althea Maria Williams in separate slayings in 1994.
Burkett's public defender, David Schieck, says he'll challenge the statute of limitations on a felony sexual assault charge in the Mitchell case.
Burkett has used several dates of birth that make him 63 or 66.
All three women were strangled and found in a neighborhood not far from Burkett's apartment.
Police say DNA evidence links Burkett to the slayings.
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