FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The murder retrial for Dayonte “Moochie” Resiles, accused of fatally stabbing a 59-year-old woman inside her home in Davie, will soon be in the hands of a jury.
Monday marked the start of the third week of the trial, and both sides rested their case. On Tuesday, jurors will hear closing arguments before beginning their deliberations.
Resiles, now 27, chose not to take the stand in his own defense after the prosecution spent more than a week building their case against him in the killing of Jill Halliburton Su nearly eight years ago.
After the state rested, the defense announced it would not be bringing forward any witnesses.
The judge sent the jury home around 2:30 p.m. and told them to each pack a bag, because starting Tuesday they will be sequestered until they reach a verdict.
A jury in Resiles’ initial trial could not agree on a verdict after five days of deliberations this past December, leading to a mistrial.
On Sept. 8, 2014, Su was found stabbed to death, tied up and laying in a bathtub filled with bloody water in her home in Davie’s Westridge gated community. The Medical Examiner’s Office determined Su was stabbed and slashed more than 20 times with a knife.
Prosecutors say Resiles intended to steal from the home and then ended up struggling with Su before stabbing her.
During the investigation, prosecutors say they discovered Resiles’ cell phone activity went suddenly quiet during the window of time Su was killed, despite seven incoming text messages.
“He does not use his phone, as far as you can tell, from 11:29 to 12:27 on Sept. 8, 2014,” prosecutor Maria Schneider said during court proceedings.
“According to the timeline feature, there was no activity during that time,” Broward Sheriff’s Office forensics Det. Ronald Faircloth testified.
The defense spent most of its time during this trial trying to poke holes in the state’s case, opening the door to reasonable doubt.
Resiles has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to death.
Su’s son, Justin Su, was briefly a suspect after he reported finding his mother dead in her bathtub. But authorities said Resiles’s DNA was found on a knife and on a bathrobe belt that was used to tie up the victim.
The jury last week listened to Kevin McEflresh, a forensic DNA expert. They also listened to crime scene technicians describe how they processed the evidence from the case, even showing how they swabbed the inside of a knife handle for DNA.
Eliza Shaw, a crime scene investigator, described Thursday what she remembered from the crime scene more than seven years ago.
“There were bloodstains on the floor. I noticed there were boxes and drawers that were open. There was jewelry on the floor,” Shaw said. “Her legs were tied around with an electrical cord. Her arms were tied with a sash, the tie to the robe. I observed multiple stab wounds on her upper body.”