BOSTON – The former Boston University medical student accused of killing a 25-year-old masseuse he met through Craigslist skipped a brief procedural court hearing Thursday.
Philip Markoff was not required to attend the session in Boston Municipal Court. His lawyer, John Salsberg, called the hearing "a non-event," and said Markoff decided not to attend because nothing substantive is expected to happen in the case until Markoff is indicted.
Salsberg declined to discuss the charges against Markoff.
Markoff's mother, Susan Haynes, attended the hearing, but declined to comment to reporters.
Click here for photos from the 'Craigslist Killer' case.
Markoff, 23, is due back in court on July 1 for a probable cause hearing. But Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin said that hearing will likely be canceled because he expects Markoff to be indicted by a grand jury before that date. After indictment, cases are moved to Superior Court.
Markoff is charged in Boston with the April 14 fatal shooting of Julissa Brisman of New York City, and the armed robbery of another woman four days earlier, both at posh Boston hotels. Authorities say he met both women through Craigslist, where they had advertised in its "erotic services" category. Markoff has pleaded not guilty.
He also is charged in an arrest warrant in the attempted robbery of another woman in Rhode Island on April 16. Police say she was bound with cord and held at gunpoint at a hotel in Warwick, but her assailant fled when her husband came into the room.
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