Lawyer for Biela argues for 3 separate trials
The strangulation of Brianna Denison, the rape of another woman at gunpoint in a parking garage and the abduction and sexual assault of a third woman were all distinctly different crimes, and each should be tried separately, a lawyer for James Biela argued Friday.
"They would like the court to believe there was a similar attack pattern," Deputy Public Defender Jay Slocum said of the prosecutors. "Our contention was there is not."
But Deputy District Attorney Elliott Sattler cited a list of similarities among the three cases -- they occurred near the university, late at night, against women who had similar builds -- and asked Washoe District Judge Robert Perry to keep the cases together.
"What we have here is a man who basically is a predator," Sattler said.
Sattler said Biela conducted "sexually motivated attacks on unsuspecting
college-aged girls. The facts, they all point to the same person committing all of these acts one month after the other."
Perry said he would announce his decision on the request on Monday or Tuesday. At present, the trial is set for Feb. 22. If Perry separated the three charges, Sattler said he would keep that date for the Denison trial, and hold the two others sooner, in chronological order.
Denison, a Reno native, was a 19-year-old student at Santa Barbara City College when she disappeared from a friend's house near the University of Nevada, Reno campus early on Jan. 20, 2008. Her body was found on Feb. 15, 2008, in a field in southeast Reno.
Biela also is charged with raping a UNR student on about 10 p.m. on Oct. 22, 2007, as she headed toward her car. She testified at Biela's preliminary hearing that she was grabbed from behind and raped on the ground. She did not report the attack until January, and no DNA evidence was saved.
more at:
http://www.rgj.com/article/20090502/NEWS01/905020352/1321/NEWS