Alleged Ringleader Will Challenge Extradition From Prince George's

An alleged ringleader in the execution-style killings of three college students in Newark told a Prince George's County judge yesterday that he would fight New Jersey's attempt to extradite him to face murder and other charges.

Rodolfo Godinez, 24, was taken into custody early Saturday in Oxon Hill after an extensive manhunt that also led to the arrest of his 16-year-old half brother later that day in Woodbridge. On Sunday, authorities arrested an 18-year-old man, the last of six suspects, in Elizabeth, N.J.

Godinez appeared in District Court and was given the option of fighting the extradition request or waiving his right to do so. Handcuffed and shackled, he had tattoos on his right arm that appeared to depict either flames or letters.

At one point, Godinez told Judge Leo E. Green Jr. that he did not understand the proceedings. Green summoned a nearby assistant public defender, Rhonda Hudson Fowler, to advise Godinez. About 10 minutes later, Green asked Godinez what he wanted to do.

"Stay here," Godinez replied.

Green scheduled an extradition hearing for Sept. 20. Godinez is being held without bond.

Defendants in criminal court are rarely successful in fighting extradition, so much so that they generally waive their right to do so. To prevail, defendants must prove that they are not the person sought by the state making the request.

The suspects in the Aug. 4 slayings are accused of forcing siblings Natasha Aeriel, 19, and Terrance Aeriel, 18, and friends Dashon Harvey and Iofemi Hightower, both 20, to kneel against a wall behind an elementary school on Aug. 4 and shooting them in the head. Natasha Aeriel survived. She, her brother and Harvey were students at Delaware State University, and Hightower planned to enroll there this fall.

Before the arrests over the weekend, police had captured three of the six suspects: two juveniles and Jose Carranza, 28, who insisted on surrendering directly to the city's mayor. They are each charged with three counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and other crimes.

Godinez was found in a fetid, three-bedroom apartment at Riverside Plaza apartments in Oxon Hill; his half brother was arrested about 20 minutes later in the basement of a townhouse at Grist Mill Terrace in Woodbridge.

Essex County prosecutor Paula Dow told reporters in Newark that the two suspects apprehended in the Washington area are cousins of one of the juveniles in custody.

The case has drawn wide attention, some of it political, because of the brutality of the slayings and because Carranza, a citizen of Peru, was in the country illegally. He had been charged with sexually assaulting a child and, at the time of the slayings, was free on $150,000 bail.

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), a presidential candidate, urged the families of the victims yesterday to consider suing Newark for negligence, saying the city and its leaders share a degree of culpability. Tancredo said in a statement that the city, by not involving itself in immigration matters, had "contributed to the deaths of three promising American kids."

The 16-year-old suspect arrested in Prince William must be arraigned within 10 days of the arrest.