Closing arguments in Gillis trial delayed
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An issue involving jury instructions this afternoon has stalled the start of closing arguments in the first-degree murder trial for accused serial killer Sean Vincent Gillis.
State District Judge Bonnie Jackson informed jurors that the issue exists shortly before sending them back to their hotel for the day.
Jackson also informed jurors that closing arguments in the trial are now scheduled to begin Friday. She told jurors to expect about two hours of arguments and an hour of jury instructions before deliberations are to begin.
Jackson’s talk to jurors Thursday afternoon came after 3 p.m.
The prosecution and defense rested their cases just after noon today. Defense attorneys did not call any witnesses.
This morning, the supervisor of the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab’s Forensic DNA Unit testified that DNA from Gillis matched DNA found in the fingernail scrapings and wrist of Donna Bennett Johnston.
DNA Unit Supervisor Joanie Wilson was the first prosecution witness to take the stand this morning.
Gillis, 46, is accused of strangling Johnston with a nylon zip cable tie.
Johnston’s naked and mutilated body was found Feb 27, 2004, in a drainage canal near Ben Hur Road south of LSU.
Gillis has confessed to killing eight women, including Johnston. He has been booked in the murders of seven of those women, and the eighth is still under investigation.
Gillis was sentenced to life in prison last year after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of 36-year-old Joyce Williams.
Gillis confessed to killing Williams in a sugar cane field in West Baton Rouge Parish in 1999.
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