Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday within the trial of a person accused of killing a North Carolina school scholar 14 years in the past.
Religion Hedgepeth was a 19-year-old sophomore on the College of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when she was overwhelmed to loss of life in her off-campus house in September 2012. Miguel Salguero Olivares was arrested nine years later after being pulled over for driving whereas intoxicated and offering a DNA pattern that prosecutors say matched proof from the crime scene.
He has pleaded not responsible to first-degree homicide, rape and housebreaking expenses.
Testimony began Oct. 7 following eight days of jury choice. Salguero Olivares didn’t testify and his attorneys rested their case Wednesday with out calling any witnesses. Practically two dozen witnesses testified for the prosecution, together with Hedgepeth’s roommate and different buddies, crime scene technicians, state and native legislation enforcement and a DNA knowledgeable.
Early testimony centered on Hedgepeth’s life and her final night time alive, when she and her roommate returned house from a membership round 2 a.m. Karena Rosario testified that she was drunk and sick when Hedgepeth drove them house however later referred to as a good friend to choose her up and he or she went out once more, leaving Hedepeth within the house alone. She returned hours later that Sept. 7 to search out Hedgepeth’s physique.
An post-mortem confirmed Hedgepeth suffered in depth cranium fractures and cuts to her face and head, and he or she was additionally badly overwhelmed on her legs and arms.
Prosecutors allege that Salguero Olivares, now 33, was a stranger who killed Hedgepeth in a match of rage. They stated his DNA was discovered on a rum bottle coated in blood that investigators recognized because the weapon within the killing, in Hedgepeth’s physique and on a be aware written on a fast-food bag discovered on the scene.
Erin Ermish, a forensic scientist with the state crime lab, testified that she might by no means say with 100% certainty {that a} DNA pattern got here from a specific particular person. However she stated DNA swabbed from Hedgepeth’s physique was 170 septillion instances extra prone to be a mix of DNA from Hedgepeth and Salguero Olivares than from Hedgepeth and an unknown particular person. One septillion is a 1 adopted by 24 zeros.
Ermish additionally stated the combination of DNA from the highest of the rum bottle was 48.6 tredecillion instances extra prone to be from Hedgepeth and Salguero Olivares than two unknown, unrelated people. One tredecillion is a 1 adopted by 42 zeros.
In cross-examining witnesses, protection attorneys questioned Rosario’s account of that night time, the processing of the crime scene and the reliability of some DNA proof. They identified that police failed to go looking some areas of the house and later misplaced some potential blood proof.
A number of jurors cried after viewing post-mortem pictures of Hedgepeth, in line with native media accounts. Salguero Olivares, in the meantime, cried when prosecutors performed video of a jailhouse name between him and a good friend who has since died.
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Ramer reported from Harmony, New Hampshire.
