Man indicted in carjacking, murder of two college students

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A man was indicted Friday on state charges in the carjacking and slaying of two college students following his acquittal last year in federal court.

The indictment alleges that Kenneth Day conspired with four co-defendants to rob, carjack and murder the students in 2000.

Amy Shute, 21, and Jason Burgeson, 20, were taken at gunpoint from outside a mall, driven to a remote golf course and shot. The attackers took Burgeson's Ford Explorer and split $18 in change.

Day and the other men were arrested after the bodies of Shute and Burgeson were found.

His co-defendants pleaded guilty to federal charges. All but one are serving life sentences without parole. Raymond Anderson received a 30-year sentence.

Day was the only one to go to trial in federal court, and he was acquitted Feb. 26, 2002. The judge ruled that prosecutors did not prove federal charges were warranted.

After he was acquitted, the state convicted him on an unrelated robbery charge and he remains in prison. Day now faces murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit carjacking charges in the case of the slain couple.

Nadine Burgeson, Jason's mother, said she wished she could thank the grand jury.

"We've been very, very upset -- all this time waiting," she said. "But it's starting now, so this is good, I guess."

Joseph DeCaporale, who was Day's lawyer during the federal case, said if he is appointed again he'll enter an innocent plea during a Sept. 17 arraignment.