Update On The Tragic Badly Handled Taylor Slaying

MIAMI (AP) - "A fourth man charged in the shooting death of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor appeared in court Sunday and, like his co-defendants, was denied bond.

Jason Mitchell, 19, appeared briefly via videoconference in a Fort Myers courtroom, about 100 miles from here. Dressed in an orange jumpsuit, he responded quietly when asked if he understood the charges.

The suspects all have prior arrests, according to Lee County Sheriff's Office records.

Cordaveous Brown, 16, who said he was a close friend of Rivera, described the suspect as calm and quiet. "He's not the type of guy to do something like this," he said. A woman who identified herself as Wardlow's grandmother called him "a sweet young man," and Jose Ortiz, a 36-year-old neighbor of Hunte, said he'd never heard of any problems or trouble surrounding the accused.

Smith, who represents Mitchell and Rivera, simply said the suspects were terrified.

Police remain tightlipped about how the suspects wound up at Taylor's home. The Miami Herald reported Mitchell cut the player's lawn and did other chores at the house and that Taylor's sister Sasha dates Wardlow's cousin. The Naples Daily News quoted a woman who identified herself as Jason Mitchell's mother as saying her son was at a birthday party at Taylor's home within the past two months."

But of course the police are remaining tightlipped. Taylor wasn't cold before they were issuing reports that he didn't know his assailants, and everyone from yours truly to the guy who sweeps the Miami Dade offices every night knew that had to be absolute nonsense. There are two things you can on in a case like this; the cops going in the wrong direction, then a stool pigeon points them towards the perpetrators.

No word yet on which of the 4 suspects was turning his life around right before this went down.

But its coming.