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MILWAUKEE (AP) -- A court commissioner ordered two men to stand trial for the killings of two women and two boys during a Friday hearing that included disturbing details of how they died.

After Court Commissioner Barry Slagle found there was probable cause for trial, Desmond Laster, 21, and Anthony Barnes, 23, pleaded not guilty to four counts each of first-degree intentional homicide and arson, all as party to a crime, and possession of a firearm by a felon. A scheduling conference was set for March 23.

According to prosecutors, the two Milwaukee men went to the apartment of Brittney Robertson, 19, on Feb. 26 and robbed her 23-year-old roommate, Rachel Thompson, of $800. Robertson stabbed Thompson and helped Laster suffocate Thompson's 3-year-old son Jaden and 4-year-old son Torian before they set the home on fire and made off with Thompson's 6-week-old son, prosecutors contend.

Robertson left the boy outside a church later that day before Barnes shot her to death, according to the criminal complaint.

Court documents have said both women got pregnant by the same man but Robertson's son died in December after being born prematurely. That man, Maurice Visor, is at Dodge Correctional Institution. Thompson and Robertson had been living together for a couple of months because Robertson had no where to stay, officials have said. Court records don't indicate how the met, but they had communicated through Facebook.

At Friday's hearing, Barnes was dressed in a standard orange jail jumpsuit but Laster was wearing a blue quilted gown that indicated he was under suicide watch. Both men looked down through much of the hearing.

Eight people testified, including Detective Christopher Blaszak who interviewed Barnes twice and Barnes allegedly confessed to what happened. Blaszak seemed to get emotional during his testimony as did two women sitting in the gallery, who declined comment after the hearing.

According to Blaszak:

Barnes told him Robertson let them in to the upper apartment and Laster punched Thompson in the face to wake her on the couch; Laster put duct tape over Thompson's mouth and eyes; and Robertson repeatedly stabbed Thompson in the chest, even breaking two knives.

Barnes said he watched as Laster pulled plastic bags out of his pocket and Barnes and Robertson put them over the boy's heads.

"Mr. Barnes went into great detail about how Torian had struggled and had tried to resist the plastic bag being put over his head," he said.

And for Jaden: "Again (Barnes) went into great detail how Jaden struggled and how Mr. Laster placed the bag over Jaden's head and that Laster and Brittney Robertson began taking tape off the roll with their teeth and wrapping it around his neck," he said.

Laster put both boys in the bathtub on top of each other with their wrists bound with duct tape. The boys died of asphyxia. Barnes also said Laster told him to shoot Thompson and he pointed the gun, closed his eyes and fired. Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Brian Peterson said she had no gunshot wounds.

Barnes admitted later to shooting Robertson in the back of the head because she was "too hot" because her photo had been on television in connection to the events.

Barnes' attorney, Deja Vishny, and Laster's attorney, Douglas Bihler, declined to comment after the hearing.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)