A Reno jury ends first day of deliberations in Biela trial

Posted: May 26, 2010 10:40 PM
Updated: May 26, 2010 10:40 PM

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RENO, Nev. (AP) - A jury in Reno ended its first day of
deliberations without reaching a verdict in the trial of a
28-year-old Nevada pipe fitter accused of raping and murdering one college coed and sexually assaulting two others.

Jurors deliberated for about 90 minutes Wednesday in James
Biela's trial. Washoe District Court Judge Robert Perry told them to return Thursday.

Prosecutors say a mountain of evidence - including a DNA match as rare as 1 in 125 quadrillion - proves Biela is the serial rapist who terrorized the community in 2008.

Biela's lawyers argued that the case's publicity put pressure on law enforcement officers and caused them to make mistakes.

The assaults near the University of Nevada, Reno, campus
culminated in the kidnapping and strangulation of 19-year-old Brianna Denison in January 2008.

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

Topics: Reno, Nevada, verdict, murder trial, James Biela, Brianna Denison, KSBY News

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