Oklahoma man says he wants to plead guilty in beheading

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A man charged with beheading a co-worker with a butcher knife at an Oklahoma food processing plant wants to plead guilty to a first-degree murder charge, but the judge refused.

Thirty-one-year-old Alton Nolen was arraigned Thursday for the September 2014 attack at the Vaughan Foods plant in Moore.

District Attorney Greg Mashburn says Nolen told District Judge Lori Walkley that he wanted to plead guilty.

Defense attorney Mitch Solomon questioned whether Nolen is mentally competent to enter a guilty plea, and Walkey said she wanted to give Nolen and his attorney more time. She entered a not guilty plea and scheduled a May 20 hearing.

Investigators say Nolen had been suspended from his job when he severed the head of 54-year-old Colleen Hufford and stabbed another co-worker, who survived.