Accused killer to plead not guilty
Michael Rafferty, the man accused in the kidnapping and first-degree murder of eight-year-old Tori Stafford, will plead not guilty, according to his lawyer Laura Giordano. He has also elected to have a preliminary hearing, ahead of the trial, unlike is co-accused, Terri-Lynne McClinitic, who has chosen to go straight to trial. They were arrested in May. The trial is set to start on June 21. Stafford went missing after school one day last April in Woodstock, Ont.; her body was found five months later near Guelph. Giordano says of Rafferty: "His story will come out at trial, and I would ask everybody to reserve judgement and simply be patient and let the story unfold as it will."
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