SALT LAKE CITY — A judge on Thursday entered not guilty pleas to child pornography charges on behalf of a man who is also accused of murdering University of Utah student Mackenzie Lueck.
Defense attorneys for Ayoola Adisa Ajayi asked 3rd District Judge Vernice Trease to enter the pleas to 19 charges of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.
Police reported finding child pornography depicting children ages 4-8 on devices they seized from Ajayi’s Salt Lake home as they investigated Lueck’s death.
Ajayi, 32, waived his right to a preliminary hearing, which determines whether prosecutors have enough evidence for a trial. A trial date has not yet been set.
A U.S. citizen originally from Nigeria, he listened to an interpreter in the Yoruban language Thursday. He wore an orange jail uniform and responded to brief questions from the judge.
Trease last month assigned an interpreter in substantive court proceedings, a move Ajayi’s attorneys requested as a precaution to ensure that he understands complicated legal issues.
Ajayi faces a charge of aggravated murder in a separate case involving Lueck’s death. Prosecutors say he bound Lueck’s hands with zip ties, bludgeoned her and burned her body in June 2019. He could potentially face the death penalty if convicted of the capital offense.
Police said Lueck, a 23-year-old University of Utah student from El Segundo, California, met Ajayi about 3 a.m. on June 17, 2019, at a North Salt Lake park before going to his house in Salt Lake City. Authorities have not said how the two knew each other or why they met there.
Roughly two weeks later, police found Lueck’s charred remains in a shallow grave in Logan Canyon. An autopsy determined she died of blunt force trauma to the left side of her skull.
Ajayi returns to court Oct. 14 for a scheduling hearing.