PHOENIX — An August 2016 trial date has been set for a homeless ex-convict charged with beating a Catholic priest with a metal rod and fatally shooting another clergyman during a burglary at a Phoenix church.
Gary Michael Moran has pleaded not guilty to charges that he badly beat the Rev. Joseph Terra and fatally shot the Rev. Kenneth Walker in the June 11 attack at the Mother of Mercy Mission.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Moran.
Moran was arrested four days after the attack.
Authorities say Moran acknowledged his involvement in the crime, though he initially he didn’t remember what happened.
He was sentenced to more than four years in prison after pleading guilty in 2001 to misconduct involving weapons. He also was convicted in two 1989 burglaries.
