Trial Set for Slain Mount Pleasant Couple

A trial is set to begin today in the homicide of a Mount Pleasant killed in their vacation home on the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Maarten.

Family and friends of Michael and Thelma King have traveled to Philipsburg, St. Maarten, for the trial of three men who are accused of killing the couple in an apparent robbery.

Meyshane Kemar Johnson, 28; Jeremiah Chevon Mills, 17; and Jamal Jefferson Woolford, 20, could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted, according to the Associated Press.

In Dutch courts, a judge decides guilt or innocence without a jury. The trial may only last a day or two, and a verdict could come down in May, according to media reports.

The Kings, who split time between Mount Pleasant and St. Maarten, were found brutally bound and stabbed to death in mid September.

One of the suspects, Kemar Johnson, was a security guard on the island and worked for the same company that provided security for the King's condominium complex. He was also accused of an armed robbery shortly before the Kings' homicide.

St. Maarten's solicitor general has said the couple was a random target of the alleged killers.

The Kings were partners in a rum distillery on the island. That business launched without them this winter. The rum is being sold in local stores.