NEW YORK - Two men accused of the execution-style slayings of five people during a robbery at a Wendy's restaurant - one of the most shocking crimes in recent New York memory - were charged Sunday with multiple counts of murder, attempted robbery and weapons possession.
Queens Assistant District Attorney Greg Lasak described in chilling detail how John Taylor, 36, and Craig Godineaux, 30, allegedly bound and gagged their victims with duct tape, then executed them one by one.
''They were marched single file into a big freezer box. They were told to get on their knees, and they were each shot by the defendants once in the head,'' Lasak said, his voice filled with emotion.
Lasak told Queens Criminal Court Judge Michael Aloise that the defendants had given videotaped statements admitting the shootings at the fast-food restaurant in Queens last Wednesday night. In addition, he said, witnesses picked them out of a police lineup, and detectives seized money, a security tape from the restaurant's camera and other evidence.
''The evidence we have to tie these defendants to the case is overwhelming,'' Lasak said.
All seven people shot were employees of the restaurant. Five were killed and two others survived with wounds, one of them by playing dead until the bandits left.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown has 120 days to decide whether to seek the death penalty. Brown, who has twice before recommended the death penalty, said he would use the time to investigate, talk to victims' families and evaluate the defendants' backgrounds, state of mind and mental capacity.
''The decision in regard to the death penalty is a decision I do not take lightly,'' he said.
Brown refused to comment on media reports that Taylor had said, ''no witnesses,'' as his reason for shooting the workers after taking $2,300. Most of the money, recovered at Taylor's house, was in coins, according to the reports.
Aloise set the next hearing for June 26 and remanded the pair without bail. Lasak asked for no bail, saying there was ''no greater risk of flight'' than a potential death penalty. Court-appointed attorneys John Youngblood and Heidi Segal reserved the right to request bail in the future.
In addition to the lesser charges, Taylor and Godineaux were each charged with: 10 counts of murder in the first degree (five counts for murder committed during the course of another felony and five counts for murder that resulted in the deaths of two or more people) and 10 counts of murder in the second degree (five counts for murder committed during the course of another felony and five counts for intentional murder).
Taylor later was placed on suicide watch, officials said.
Taylor, a short, heavyset man, stood during the proceeding, staring straight ahead. Godineaux, tall and lanky, gazed at the floor.
A woman who appeared to be a friend of Godineaux walked in and out of the courtroom, wearing a red sweater over her head. She refused to identify herself to reporters, but as the defendants were led away, she cried out, ''I love you, Craig,'' broke down in sobs and wailed, ''Oh, God.''
Police say Taylor was a fugitive who jumped bail in a previous fast-food robbery and had a record stretching back to 1996, when he was accused of trying to break into a safe at a McDonald's where he was assistant manager, and sentenced to five years probation.
In one week last June, he was linked to robberies or attempted robberies at four fast-food businesses in Queens.