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This story originally appeared July 28, 2004
| Thursday, Feb 15 2007 5:49 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Feb 15 2007 5:49 PM
Harper family slayings: The preliminary hearing for Vincent Brothers on charges of murdering five members of the Harper family last year was delayed Tuesday from Sept. 7 to Oct. 25.
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Brothers, 42, a former vice principal at Fremont School, was disappointed in the delay, but he agreed to it, his attorney, Kevin Little of Fresno, said.
The delay was requested by Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green, who is scheduled to attend a hearing Sept. 9 in Columbus, Ohio, on a request by The Bakersfield Californian to unseal search warrants in that city.
Green wanted a week delay, but Little said he would need more time because he just got 1,000 pages of reports in the case on Tuesday and he has a monthlong trial scheduled in Fresno in September.
The search warrants in Columbus are for the home and cars of Melvin Brothers, a brother of the defendant.
Melvin Brothers has told investigators that at Brothers' request, he used Brothers' credit cards in Columbus and signed Brothers' name on July 6, 2003, when the Harpers were slain, Bakersfield police reported.
Brothers was arrested on April 30 on charges of murdering Earnestine Harper, 70, Joanie Harper, 39, and her children, Marques, 4, Lyndsey, 2, and Marshall, 6 weeks. The victims were shot to death in their home at Third and P streets.
Brothers was the husband of Joanie Harper and the father of the children.
Search warrants and virtually all investigative reports in Bakersfield have been sealed to limit pretrial publicity.