The murder trial of a man who made a brazen escape from the Broward Courthouse finally began Wednesday with him facing the death penalty.
Jurors began hearing the evidence and prosecutors started presenting their case against 27-year-old Dayonte Resiles, who five years ago had his name and face everywhere after pulling off a daring escape from the Broward County Courthouse.
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WATCH HEREResiles listened Wednesday as the 911 call came in from when Jill Halliburton Su was found tied up and slain in the family’s bathroom in her Davie home in 2014.
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Prosecutors said it was Resiles who broke into Su’s home in Davie and killed her with a knife. Prosecutor Maria Schneider in her opening argument told the jury Resiles' DNA was found on a belt used to restrict Su.
"And the third contributing DNA is Dayonte Resiles," Schneider said. "So the police immediately go 'oh, it’s not just them.' They called Dr. Su. They start investigating. 'Do you guys know Dayonte Resiles? No. Has he ever been inside your house? No.'"
But Resiles’ attorney said when it comes to the murder weapon, the piece of evidence that really counts, there’s no DNA tying him to it.
"Dayonte Resiles is excluded as a contributor on that knife. The items that were used to bind Mrs. Su, no DNA linked to Dayonte Resiles," attorney Michael Orlando told jurors.
Surveillance video showed Resiles back in 2016 when he got out of his handcuffs, got away from deputies, and ran out of the courthouse. The judge allowed the jury to hear about his daring escape.
"[He] Jumps over and jumps out of the courtroom, jumps down the stairs and leaves, escapes on July 15th of 2016, from a courtroom full of people," Schneider said.
He was captured five days later. His lawyer says Resiles didn’t kill Mrs. Su, that it was someone her son invited to their home during a party filled with booze and drugs in the days before she was murdered.
"Parties for younger people, alcohol, and while he was there he had people come into his room," Orlando said. "The perpetrator of this crime, the person that killed Jill Su, was a person who had been in this house before and was familiar with the layout."
That’s the strategy the defense laid out Wednesday, that it's someone else who committed the brutal murder and there’s no direct eyewitness putting Resiles at the home.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Su’s husband took the witness stand and described their survelliance camera system and how he saw a person through one of the cameras the day before his wife was killed.
The trial could last a month.
