Two Whites Trade Jokes, Plead Innocent to Torching Black Tourist New Year’s Day
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TAMPA, Fla. — Two white men joked and laughed with each other in court Friday before pleading innocent in the New Year’s Day torching of a black tourist.
Mark Kohut, 26, and Charles Rourk, 33, are charged with attempted murder, armed kidnaping and armed robbery. A third man, Jeffrey Pellett, 17, who is being tried as an adult, has yet to enter a plea.
The three are accused of abducting Christopher Wilson, 31, a vacationing brokerage clerk from New York City, and forcing him at gunpoint to drive to a remote area where he was robbed, taunted with racial slurs, doused with gasoline and set ablaze.
Wilson remained in serious but stable condition Friday at Tampa General Hospital recovering from burns over nearly 40%of his body.
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