Fort Carson soldier pleads insanity in murder, rape

A Fort Carson soldier accused of killing a woman and raping a teenager, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Robert Hull Marko, a 22-year-old U.S. Army mortarman, entered his plea on Monday before 4^th Judicial District Judge Larry Schwartz.

Schwartz ordered a sanity evaluation of Marko and set a June 21 trial date.

Marko is accused of first-degree murder in the death of Judilianna Lawrence, a 19-year-old woman whom he met over the Internet.

In October 2008, Marko led El Paso County sheriff’s investigators to a wooded area about three miles up Old Stage Road where they found her body. Her throat had been slashed.

He is also accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl five days before the murder.

Marko served in Iraq, where his unit fought in Baghdad and took some of the heaviest casualties of any Fort Carson unit in Iraq. Several members of his unit have been charged in local homicides and attempted homicides.

 For more court coverage, go to the Sidebar blog at Gazette.com