3 Plead Not Guilty in Man’s Grisly Slaying

Three men who told police in detail about the grisly killing of a man whose body was dismembered and whose hands were thrown from the window of an upper Manhattan housing project pleaded not guilty to the slaying.

Two of the accused, Bernard Perez and Rahman Williams, are charged with first- and second-degree murder and could face the death penalty. The third man, Jason Walker, is charged with second-degree murder and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

The three defendants, all 20 years old, are also accused of robbery and burglary.

According to statements they gave police when arrested May 28, they strangled Jerry Pollard, 49, to get his apartment. Perez said in his statement that after he had put Pollard in a chokehold in an elevator, his two companions “punched him to get the air out of his lungs to weaken him.”