Not guilty pleas to nine murder charges have been entered for a man accused of carrying out serial killings in Phoenix.
A judge entered the pleas for 23-year-old Aaron Juan Saucedo after defense attorneys waived Saucedo's presence in the courtroom for his arraignment Thursday.
Saucedo was indicted last week on charges accusing him of fatally shooting nine people and wounding two others during a nearly one-year period that ended in July 2016.
News media attorney David Bodney said Saucedo's lawyers waived Saucedo's presence after Commissioner Thomas Kaipio of Maricopa County Superior Court granted a media request to allow a camera in the courtroom.
Kaipio considered the camera request during a brief closed-door hearing before Saucedo's arraignment.
Saucedo proclaimed during a court hearing in May that he was innocent.
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The attacks terrified people living in the Maryvale neighborhood of Phoenix, a mostly Latino community where all but two of the killings occurred. Residents stayed indoors at night amid the height of fear over the killings last summer.
Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said police have linked Saucedo to two additional killings -- the August 2015 homicide of 61-year-old Raul Romero, and the January 2016 death of Jessie Olivas -- in the course of their investigation.
Saucedo knew Romero through his mother, but did not know the other victims, police say.
ABC15 first confirmed on April 24 that Saucedo had been identified as a person of interest in the high-profile case after he had already been taken into custody in connection with Romero's death.
A December 14 trial date has been set for the death of Romero.
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