Floyd enters not-guilty plea

Showing no emotion and ignoring media cameras, Zane Floyd pleaded not guilty today to charges he shot and killed four people at an Albertson's supermarket. A trial date was set for March 6.

Floyd, a 23-year-old former Marine and part-time nightclub bouncer, did not demand his right to a speedy trial within 60 days on the charges that he gunned down five market employees on June 3, killing four of them shortly after sexually assaulting an outcall entertainer.

District Attorney Stewart Bell, who will prosecute the case, told District Judge Jeff Sobel that the death penalty will be sought in the case.

"We have four dead and that's about as big a tragedy as we've seen," Bell said outside the courtroom after the arraignment.

Multiple deaths is one of the so-called "aggravating circumstances" that must be proved before the death penalty can legally be sought. Prosecutors also are contending the murders were random and without motive and occurred during a burglary.

Metro Police homicide detectives have said the outcall entertainer informed them Floyd stated minutes before the rampage that he had 19 shotgun shells and was going to kill the first 19 people he saw.

Witnesses have said Floyd marched into the market at Sahara Avenue and Valley View Boulevard and opened fire, chasing down some victims.

Thomas Michael Darnell, Dennis Troy Sargent, Carlos Chuck Leos and Lucille Alice Tarantino died. A fifth employee, Zachary Emenegger, was shot but survived after spending days in a hospital.

The identity of the 20-year-old sexual assault victim has not been revealed.

The incident began during the early morning shift on June 3 when a man dressed in camouflage fatigues walked into the market and began shooting at everyone in his path, pausing only to reload.

Floyd was arrested as he left the store.

Bell has said he is personally involved in the prosecution because he anticipates a psychological defense strategy and he has expertise in that area from his years as a mental commitment hearing officer.

"We expect the defense will try to litigate the issue of why, rather than what occurred," Bell said.

Although he said he would have preferred a quicker trial, Bell said that March 6 was "the first available trial date" on Sobel's calendar.

Sobel said there would be no postponements granted unless there are "extraordinary circumstances" and he set a schedule to ensure pretrial motions are decided well before the March date.

Bell said no plea bargain has been discussed or contemplated because of the seriousness of the charges and the filing of the notice to seek the death penalty, which requires a verdict by a jury.

But Bell left the possibility open, stating, "I never foreclose my mind to anything."

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