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Couple Held On Murder Charges Marries In Jail

SANTA ANA (CBS) — The bride wore a jailhouse jumpsuit, the groom wore a jail-issued sweater. In the first of its kind that anyone can remember, two inmates at the Orange County jail got married on Monday.

Iftekhar Murtaza, 26, and Marissa Star Bilotti, 20, each face murder charges in unrelated cases.

They were separated by a chain-link fence during the ceremony, unable to touch or kiss one another.

Murtaza is charged with abducting the father and sister of his ex-girlfriend, beating them to death, and setting their bodies on fire in 2007.

Bilotti was charged last year with helping a former boyfriend commit murder.

The pair's relationship unfolded when they began writing each other while incarcerated. A jail pastor married the couple in a visitors' room at the jail.

If convicted, each face the death penalty.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press contributed to this report. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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