OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Northern California prosecutors obtained a grand jury indictment charging a 27-year-old transient with murder for the stabbing death of 18-year-old Nia Wilson on a commuter train platform,
KTVU says the Alameda County district attorney’s office disclosed the indictment Tuesday during John Lee Cowell’s court hearing in Oakland. The indictment replaces a criminal complaint prosecutors filed earlier charging Cowell with murder and attempted murder for allegedly stabbing and wounding Wilson’s 26-year-old sister on July 22 on a Bay Area Rapid Transit platform.
Prosecutors say the grand jury indictment will get Cowell to trial quicker because there’s no need for a preliminary hearing, which is required when a defendant is charged with a criminal complaint. He is eligible for the death penalty.
Cowell’s attorney Christina Moore didn’t return a phone call Tuesday.
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Information from: KTVU-TV.
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