MIAMI — Two men accused of killing four people aboard a fishing charter boat pleaded not guilty Thursday to a new grand jury indictment charging them with four counts apiece of murder and kidnapping - one count for each victim.
Kirby Logan Archer, 36, and 20-year-old Guillermo Zarabozo could be sentenced to death if convicted of the first-degree murder charges. They were also charged with one count of robbery for the purported theft of the 47-foot "Joe Cool" charter boat.
Lawyers for the two suspects entered the innocent pleas at a brief hearing after the indictment was returned. Neither man spoke at the hearing.
A trial date will be set by U.S. District Judge Paul Huck. The nine-count grand jury indictment replaces and formalizes the initial murder charges contained in a criminal complaint filed earlier this month.
The six-page indictment provided no new details or evidence in the case against Archer and Zarabozo, who paid $4,000 on Sept. 22 to hire the "Joe Cool" what the boat's operators were told was a trip to Bimini, Bahamas.
Prosecutors say the pair instead killed the captain, his wife and two crew members in an attempt to commandeer the boat to possibly go to Cuba. Shell casings for a 9mm handgun and blood splotches were found on the boat, along with other evidence - although investigators have no witnesses, no bodies and no murder weapons.
Missing and presumed dead are boat captain Jake Branam and his wife, Kelley Branam; his half-brother Scott Gamble; and crew member Samuel Kairy, all of Miami Beach. The Branams left behind two young children.
After the "Joe Cool" was reported missing, the Coast Guard located the boat adrift and out of fuel far south of its course to Bimini. Archer and Zarabozo were found a few miles away in the boat's life raft, along with their luggage.
Both men told investigators the "Joe Cool" had been set upon by Cuban pirates after leaving Miami and that those unknown men fatally shot the four people and had their bodies thrown overboard. Investigators have not corroborated that story and have questioned in court documents the "numerous inconsistencies" in their statements.
"Little of the defendants' story rings true," said U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta when the men were initially detained in the case.
Archer and Zarabozo are both being held without bond. Archer is also accused in Arkansas of stealing more than $92,000 in January from a Wal-Mart where he was a manager, which prosecutors say was one reason he had for seeking to flee the United States.