SUNBURY -- Michael A. Harrell is denying he killed two people in a city apartment Jan. 18, despite police testimony that he admitted to the double homicide just hours after the shootings.

Following an hourlong preliminary hearing in Northumberland County Court Friday morning, District Judge Carl B. Rice ruled there was enough evidence against Harrell, 39, formerly of 19 Fairmount Ave., Sunbury, to transfer two counts each of criminal homicide and aggravated assault to the Court of Common Pleas.

Harrell is accused of fatally shooting Crystal M. Scholl-Gordon, 24, of Selinsgrove, and David A. Moore, 25, of Sunbury, in a 226 N. Fourth St. apartment.

"He didn't do it," court-appointed defense attorney William J. Miele, of Williamsport, said outside the courtroom.

At the preliminary hearing, state police Cpl. Richard Bramhall Jr. testified that within hours of the 1 a.m. shooting, survivor Amy Baney-Banks identified Harrell as the person who shot Moore and her cousin, Scholl-Gordon, inside her apartment.

Harrell, who was taken into custody on a parole violation after police tracked his footprints from the murder scene to his home about an hour after the homicide, allegedly spoke freely with Bramhall and Sunbury police Det. Christopher Blase.

Bramhall said they told the suspect they knew he was the culprit and "the only thing we didn't know is why."

He said Harrell admitted to killing Moore and Scholl-Gordon following an altercation, but would not say how he killed them.

The investigator said Harrell wrote a terse incriminating statement, but tore it up. Bramhall pieced it back together and asked whether he wanted to write another statement.

In the second statement, Harrell wrote, "I will take the needle. I want to take the needle. Nothing is worth this much grief and pain."

Bramhall said he asked him why he wanted the death penalty and Harrell replied, "Maybe the next life will be better."

He said Harrell did not ask for an attorney during the four-hour police interview and couldn't recall whether the suspect was offered food, beverages or a break.

Under cross-examination, Bramhall said Harrell at first denied killing the pair.

The alleged confession was not videotaped or tape-recorded and Bramhall said he destroyed his original notes.

Miele asked whether Harrell was told his girlfriend, Melissa Ranck, with whom he lived at 19 Fairmount Ave., would lose custody of her children or face legal trouble unless he gave police a statement about the homicide.