Deliberations under way in Reno rape-murder trial

RENO -- Jurors will resume deliberations today in the trial of a 28-year-old Nevada pipe fitter accused of raping and murdering one college coed and sexually assaulting two others.

The jury began deliberations Wednesday after two weeks of emotional testimony.

Prosecutors said a mountain of evidence, including a DNA match, proves James Biela is the serial rapist who terrorized the Reno area for most of 2008.

If convicted, the ex-Marine could face the death penalty.

"There is one inescapable conclusion," Washoe County Deputy District Attorney Elliott Sattler said in his closing argument. "James Michael Biela is a kidnapper, a rapist and a murderer."

The seven-woman, five-man jury began deliberating about 5:30 p.m. before stopping 90 minutes later under a new rule that requires the courthouse to close at 7 p.m. because of budget constraints.

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

Detectives said it was the work of a serial rapist . A nine-month manhunt led detectives to Biela, who was arrested in November 2008 after his ex-girlfriend let police take DNA from their son.

Biela's lawyers argued that the publicity over the case put pressure on law enforcement officers and caused them to make mistakes. The lawyers also said the county crime lab used up all DNA samples before the defense team could hire a private lab to verify the results.

And Public Defender Jay Slocum argued that the facts in the three assaults were different: the first victim in October 2007 raped at gunpoint and the second ordered to perform oral sex in December 2007 before the fatal attack on Denison.