NEWARK, N.J.

A Nicaraguan national considered a principal suspect in the execution-style slayings of two Delaware State University students and one prospective student in Newark over the summer pleaded not guilty Wednesday.

Rodolfo Godinez wore an orange prison uniform and stood with his hands and feet shackled during his 10-minute arraignment before state Superior Court Judge Donald Volkert. A tattoo of flames on his forearm in part read: “Hell offered me salvation and freedom for all.”

Five other suspects one of whom is Godinez’s half brother, 16-year-old Alexander Alfaro have already pleaded not guilty in the Aug. 4 killing of 18-year-old Terrance Aeriel, 20-year-old Iofemi Hightower and 20-year-old Dashon Harvey.

Godinez, 24, of Newark, faces 16 charges, including three murder counts.

Volkert set bail at $1.5 million on the murder charges. That brought Godinez’s combined bail to $3 million, which includes $1 million on separate charges related to the killings and $500,000 stemming from an outstanding arrest warrant for robbery and aggravated assault in 2003.

Aeriel and Harvey were students at Delaware State University and Hightower was in the process of enrolling there for the fall semester when they were each shot in the back of the head in the playground of an elementary school.

“There really isn’t anything left to say,” Harvey’s father, James, said outside the courtroom Wednesday. “We just want the justice system to do its job.”

Aeriel’s 19-year-old sister, Natasha, also a Delaware State student, was shot in the head but survived and was able to help authorities identify some of the suspects. She is living at an undisclosed location under the care of the state’s witness protection program.

All six suspects face murder and weapons charges. The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office has petitioned to have the three juvenile suspects tried as adults. A hearing to decide that matter is scheduled for next month, McTigue said.