Pocono News Section

Man headed to trial for Exeter murder

Man headed to trial for Exeter murder - Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 6:28PM EST

Tuesday, Dec 8, 2009 @ 06:28pm EST

There's enough evidence to send a man to trial after a chilling murder in Luzerne County .

Tuesday morning a judge decided Henry Platt of Exeter will stand trial for criminal homicide.

Platt stayed silent minutes after learning he's heading to trial for his girlfriend's murder.

Kimberly Burgess was beaten to death, placed in a sleeping bag and left on a sidewalk last March.

After the hearing, Luzerne County Assistant district attorney Bill Finnegan said, "Any homicide is horrific by it's nature, but to leave someone out in front of a building, especially when the person would have known that the daughter or somebody else would have found the body, it's pretty bad."

Investigators say Platt beat Burgess with a baseball bat at her Schooley Avenue apartment and they also say they have DNA evidence to prove it.

Platt was arrested seven months after the murder.

His defense attorney John Sobota says he sees holes in the prosecutions case.

"No one really saw what happened in the apartment that night. So we're going to take a look at it, get the discovery and decide what to do at that point," said Sabota.

Burgesses family and one neighbor were at Tuesday's hearing.

They didn't want to talk on camera.