Suspect in Reno slaying in court
RENO -- A rape victim sobbed on the witness stand Wednesday as she identified the man alleged to be her attacker as the same Reno man accused of rape, murder and kidnapping in a series of assaults that terrorized a university campus a year ago.
Described by police as a serial rapist who stole his victims' panties, James Michael Biela is accused of raping and killing 19-year-old Brianna Denison, sexually assaulting two other college students and trying to rape a third.
Biela, a 27-year-old pipefitter, wore a bulletproof vest in a heavily secured Reno Justice Court courtroom during a preliminary hearing Wednesday that was to resume today.
Justice of the Peace Patricia Lynch was expected to decide by the end of the day whether there is enough evidence to bound him over to Washoe County District Court on three counts of sexual assault and one count each of attempted sexual assault, kidnapping and murder.
Prosecutors have not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty.
The lead witness on Wednesday identified Biela as the man who grabbed her from behind, held a gun to her head and raped her the night of Oct. 22, 2007, in a parking garage next door to the campus police station at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Biela mostly stared down at the defense table except for occasionally turning to answer questions from one of his public defenders.
Based partly on DNA evidence, he was arrested Nov. 25 and charged with strangling Denison, who disappeared Jan. 20.
Her body was found with two pairs of thong underwear, one that belonged to the friend at whose home Denison last was seen. Police said the owner of the second black pair with a "Pink Panther" emblem has never been identified.
