Defendant acts arrogantly at hearing on twin killings

In one short court appearance yesterday, the man authorities call a central figure in the torture, murder and burial of a young Burlington County couple chided photographers, gazed nonchalantly at the family of the woman he allegedly beat and strangled, and laughed off the prospect of a life sentence.

"They're seriously taking pictures?" Kuasheim "Presto" Powell, 24, of Camden, said during his first appearance yesterday in Camden County Superior Court.

Powell, a Camden resident and member of the Lueders Park Piru Bloods gang, was arrested last month at a home near Compton, Calif. He is accused of strangling and beating Muriah Huff, 18, of Cinnaminson, and shooting her boyfriend, Michael Hawkins, 23, of Mount Holly, at least five or six times in the head on Feb. 22 in a Camden rowhouse. A law-enforcement source said the Hawkins murder was gang-related.

"The crime and its aftermath are particularly shocking," Assistant Camden County Prosecutor Ira Slovin said in court yesterday, as Powell stared at him.

On Feb. 25, authorities discovered Huff's and Hawkins' bodies buried in a shallow, snow-covered grave behind the home on Berkley Street where the murders allegedly took place. Powell was the 10th person arrested in the murders.

Camden County Superior Court Judge Thomas Brown set Powell's bail at $1 million, citing his ties to Brooklyn, N.Y., and Bushkill, Pa., and his quick move from Camden to California as evidence that he could be a flight risk. Powell has served time in New York State for robbery and fraud, and has numerous outstanding municipal warrants in New Jersey, Slovin said.

Powell was recently charged with attempted murder, Slovin said, for allegedly firing shots at two Camden men at the 36th Street River Line Station in Pennsauken on Feb. 21, a day before the Berkley Street murders.

"You're trying to pin that on me too?" Powell, who did not have an attorney, said in response.

Jason Laughlin, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office, said the two incidents were not related, but authorities believe that some of the defendants charged in the Berkley Street murders may have been present during the Pennsauken shooting. He declined to say whether Huff or Hawkins had been present during the Pennsauken shooting.

Slovin declined to comment on Powell's trip to California, but said it "might be" related to his gang affiliations.