FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The victim’s son was the first one to take the witness stand Thursday in the retrial of Dayonte “Moochie” Resiles, who is charged in the 2014 murder of Jill Halliburton Su.
During his questioning, the defense went through the timeline of the night his 59-year-old mother was killed.
“You took your mom out the tub sometimes after the (inaudible), correct?” the defense attorney asked Justin Su.
Justin Su found his mother back on that September 2014 day, dead inside her Davie home. She was bound by her hands and feet in a bathtub.
The defense showed the jury a picture of Justin Su in his blood-stained shirt after he said he got her out of the tub and performed CPR.
The defense also brought up how police treated Justin Su as a suspect at first.
“They accused you of murdering your mom, correct?” the defense attorney asked.
“Yes,” Justin Su responded.
“They accused you of staging the home to look like a burglary,” the defense attorney stated.
But prosecutors say Justin Su was accounted for that night. They are arguing that Resiles went to the home to commit a burglary and when he found out Halliburton Su was there, they say he stabbed her to death. The victim’s husband Nan Yao Su also testified in court.
“I saw them take the gurney out,” he said. “I screamed at them and said, ‘Can you revive her? There’s no way she’s dead.’ And they just shook their heads.”
The prosecution says Resiles’ DNA was found on a knife at the home.
The defense, however, is trying to throw reasonable doubt on their client’s involvement, which a few months ago led to a divided jury and a mistrial.