Murder Trial

Prosecution Presents Knife, Defense Wraps in Courtroom Escapee's Murder Trial

Accused killer Dayonte Resiles infamously escaped the Broward County courthouse back in 2016

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The murder trial of a Broward courtroom escapee accused of stabbing a woman to death in 2014 continued Thursday, where prosecutors presented what they say was evidence of Dayonte Resile's DNA on the weapon used to kill Jill Halliburton Su.

Moments before the defense rested Thursday, Resiles told the judge he would not be taking the stand. The trial has lasted for two weeks and a verdict can come as soon as Friday.

Prosecutors say Resile's DNA was found on the knife used to stab Su, who was found tied up and stabbed more than 20 times in the bathroom of her Davie home.

But the defense claims someone else killed Su, and tried to call the prosecution's evidence into question.

“I don’t know that if we ran this again that we would get a completely different result," said Dr. Allen Jamieson, a DNA expert who was a witness for the defense. "Let me make clear, the result could go higher as well as lower, I don’t know where on the scale, I don’t know where the place it.”

On cross-examination, prosecutors pressed the same witness and got to agree the DNA collected belonged to Resiles.

“You’re not telling these ladies and gentlemen that the defendant is not included in any of those three samples are you? That’s correct? So he is included in all three samples," a prosecutor said.

Davie police and the medical examiner testified in the trial of Dayonte Resiles in the murder of Jill Halliburton Su. NBC 6's Marissa Bagg reports

Resiles infamously escaped the Broward County courthouse back in 2016 while attending a hearing. Prosecutors say he had help from the inside to get out.

Law enforcement caught up with him days later in a hotel in Palm Beach County. His family argues he ran because he is innocent.

Now Resile could face the death penalty if convicted of murder.

Attorneys will have one more chance to sway the jury in closing arguments, set to begin Friday morning.

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