Brianna Denison -- Found Deceased 2/15/08

Brianna Denison Trial: Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty

May 13, 2010 5:01 PM


Brianna Denison

RENO, Nev. (CBS/AP) Prosecutors say that a man obsessed with women's thong underwear started out raping women, and ended up killing one. Now, Prosecutors are trying to convict James Biela, and are seeking the death penalty for his heinous alleged crime.

James Biela, a 28-year-old trained in martial arts, is accused of the sexual assaults of two women in 2007 near the University of Nevada, Reno and the murder of college student Brianna Denison in 2008. He is charged with three counts of sexual assault and one count each of kidnapping and murder.

Deputy District Attorney Chris Hicks said, in his opening statement to a seven-man, five-woman jury, that Biela "graduated from serial rapist to murderer," and that after DNA and other forensic evidence is presented, jurors will inevitably see the truth of Biela's guilt.

But Public Defender Jay Slocum encouraged jurors to view the evidence with the "cold light of reason." He said DNA evidence was not conclusive, and that while authorities say they've linked the three crimes to a single assailant, each has "very distinct facts."

Brianna Denison, a 19-year-old from Reno, disappeared while sleeping on a couch at a house near UNR in January 2008. Her body, covered by a discarded Christmas tree and wearing only socks was found three weeks later in a snowy vacant lot in south Reno. Beneath one of her legs were two pairs of women's thong underwear. Forensic experts believe it was used to strangle her.

Biela is also accused of raping a woman in a UNR parking garage at gunpoint in October 2007. Another woman was kidnapped two months later and was assaulted before her attacker drove her home and told her not to call police, authorities said. In both of those crimes, Hicks said, the women were attacked from behind and the assailant kept their underwear.

The first woman threw away the clothes she was wearing and didn't report the crime until after Denison's abduction, but after Biela's arrest she identified him as her attacker.

The second woman, an exchange student whose native language is Mandarin, was the first witness called Wednesday, and told jurors how she was grabbed from behind by an attacker who covered her mouth and choked her to unconsciousness; she was also forced to perform sexual acts before being driven home.

Biela was arrested in November 2008 after an anonymous tip that led authorities to his ex-girlfriend, who reportedly confided to a friend about finding two pair of women's thong underwear in Biela's truck. Police later matched his DNA to that found on Denison's body.

The trial before Washoe District Judge Robert Perry is expected to last about three weeks.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20004949-504083.html

Brianna Denison Update: Prosecution Rests After Ex-Girlfriend Testifies Against Accused Killer

May 25, 2010 1:31 PM

RENO, Nev. (CBS/AP) After emotional testimony from James Biela's ex-girlfriend prosecutors rested their case against him in the Brianna Denison murder trial Monday.

Carleen Harmon testified that she followed the case closely from the day Brianna was kidnapped from a friend's home in January 2008 and actually watched as police cordoned off the area where Brianna's body was found, three weeks after she disappeared, because it was in the middle of a field just outside of Harmon's workplace.

"I read everything that came out about it," Harmon testified on the 11th day of the trial. "It was scary."

Harmon also testified that Biela, who is on trial for Brianna's kidnapping, rape and murder, seemed indifferent to the case stating that the only reason anyone cared about Brianna case was because she was "hot" and had wealthy parents.

Her relationship with Biela was at times tumultuous but despite that Harmon testified that she believed he was innocent until he was arrested, which was made possible in part because she allowed detectives to take DNA samples from their son, to help connect Biela to the crime scene.

After the prosecution rested, the defense began by calling DNA and paternity expert Roger Miller as their first witness. Miller, with Chromosomal Laboratories in Phoenix, testified that the decision by the Washoe County Crime Lab to use all the swabs involved in the case, leaving nothing for the defense to test, went directly against national standards that call for leaving som DNA evidence for the other side to test, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Prosecutors contend Biela is a serial rapist who was motivated in part by a fetish for women's thong underwear and eventually graduated to murder in a string of attacks in 2008.

Biela has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. If convicted of murder, he could face the death penalty. The jury was expected to begin deliberations before the end of the week.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20005889-504083.html

What a sad story this was.. Such a promising young beautiful girl. What a senseless act. Her poor family that has to go on with out her...

Another perp who with no forced entry went into a home and took someone out.. hard to be;lieve these things happen.. Had LE not found his DNA on the couch, and some blood on her pillow, she wud have been considered a missing person who ran off... Thankfully her remains were found so to help this monster of being convicted and sentenced to the DP..

Life or death?

By Martha Bellisle • mbellisle@rgj.com • May 28, 2010

Once James Biela was found guilty of murder, kidnapping and three sexual assault charges Thursday, the prosecutor told jurors that they must now decide his punishment.

"This has been an emotional trial, and it's going to get more emotional," deputy district attorney Chris Hicks told the jury.

"But what has happened to these victims and to their families has all happened because of him," Hicks said, pointing at Biela. "We will be asking you to give him the death penalty."

But Biela's lawyer, James Leslie told jurors that there are many reasons to sentence him to life in prison without parole. Biela's childhood was filled with neglect and mistreatment, Leslie said. Biela witnessed violence and heard violence down the hall "night after night," Leslie said.

"We will ask you to vote for life in prison without parole," he said. "That is an appropriate and sufficient punishment."

The penalty phase of the Biela trial is scheduled to continue today.

The seven-woman, five-man jury reached a verdict Thursday in the case after about six and a half hours of deliberation. Jurors began deliberating Wednesday after the prosecution and defense lawyers finished their closing arguments.

They found Biela guilty of raping and strangling Brianna Denison in early 2008, kidnapping and sexually assaulting another student in December 2007, and raping a woman at gunpoint in a parking garage in October 2007.

Biela stood with his hands folded in front of him and shook his head slightly as the verdicts were read. His family, seated behind him, hugged and cried. His mother and stepfather declined to comment after the hearing, saying, "maybe tomorrow."

A friend of the Denison family said "yes" as the court clerk said he was guilty of her murder, and others cried as the clerk read each of the other four counts. Detectives hugged the prosecutors. Denison's mother, Bridgette, hugged friends. The October 2007 rape victim cried and hugged her family.

Lauren Denison, Brianna's aunt, said the family was "relieved" by the verdict. She said they will say more after the penalty phase. Biela's former girlfriend, Carleen Harmon, sat in the back of the courtroom, but declined to comment.

Read the other pages here:
http://www.rgj.com/article/20100528/NEWS/5280420/1321

Biela penalty phase continues Tuesday morning

Page Last Updated: Monday May 31, 2010 9:50am PDT
Victoria Campbell, News 4

The same jury of seven women and five men who convicted James Biela of kidnap, rape and murder last week, will continue to hear testimony Tuesday morning about what penalty he should face for his crimes.

Defense attorneys are asking jurors to impose a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, while prosecutors are pushing for the death penalty.

Late last week, defense witnesses including Biela's mother, brother and sister took the witness stand and testified that the entire family was terrorized during Biela's childhood by an alcoholic, abusive husband and father. It's unclear whether Joe Biela, the father, will testify about his behavior during this phase of the trial, but defense attorneys say he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and is an alcohol- and drug-user.

Prosecutors pointed out that some of Biela's siblings have gone on to lead successful lives despite the challenges they faced during their childhoods. His oldest brother, Jeff, just graduated from law school. Another sister works in law enforcement.

After the defense presents its witnesses, prosecutors plan to call the Bridgette and Brighton Denison, the mother and brother of murder victim Brianna Denison, 19, to the stand. After closing arguments, jurors will retire to deliberate again over what sentence Biela should receive.

http://www.mynews4.com/story.php?id=18528&n=122

Jury ends deliberations without sentence for Biela

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

RENO — Jurors deciding whether a man convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering a 19-year-old college student will return to court today after ending deliberations Tuesday without a sentence.

The same Washoe District Court jury that found James Biela guilty last week of murdering Brianna Denison and sexually assaulting two other college coeds deliberated for nearly three hours Tuesday evening after hearing emotional statements from Denison's mother and Biela himself.

Judge Robert Perry instructed them to return at today.

Biela's public defenders argued the 28-year-old Sparks pipe fitter should be sentenced to prison for life without the possibility of parole, partly because he grew up in poverty in a household where his father beat his mother on nearly a daily basis.

But Bridgette Denison urged jurors to show no mercy for the man responsible for their family's profound sense of loss since her daughter's murder in January 2008.

“James Biela, I am before you today as a person that has suffered more tragedy than any other mother should ever live with,” she said. “It sickens me to know my poor baby girl was with you the last moments of her life.

“I know that James Biela is asking for mercy. I do not believe he deserves any mercy,” Denison told jurors.

Biela apologized in a short statement to jurors before they began sentencing deliberations. He said he was sorry that he would not be able to see his son grow up and that if he failed his son, but he wanted him to know “this might not be the time or place, but I love you. That's it. I don't know what else to say. I'm sorry.”

“I just wanted to say I'm sorry that this incident has destroyed several families,” Biela told the jurors.

The sexual assaults began in the fall of 2007 around the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno, just north of the downtown casino district. They culminated in Denison's strangulation in January 2008.

Jurors also had heard from Biela's sister Kristi Jackson, who testified how Biela's abusive father terrorized the family. “We pretty much spent our whole childhood afraid of the men in our lives,” she said, adding that her brother was a good father to his son.

Lawyers for both sides put the death penalty itself on trial during their closing arguments.

Public defender Maizie Pusich said sentencing Biela to life in prison without parole “is enough to protect us. It is enough to punish Mr. Biela.” Deputy District Attorney Elliott Sattler urged the jurors to resist any temptation to take the easy way out by “falling back on the fact we are safe and comfy because he is locked away in prison.”

Sattler said he agreed with the public defenders who said the death penalty should be reserved for the “worst of the worst,” but he added that Biela fits that category because of how Denison was strangled.

“He could have used his bare hands,” he said, referring to the way the ex-Marine and martial arts student strangled Denison using a pair of underwear he stole from her friend. “He could have snapped her neck and killed her if he wanted to. He chose not to do that. He killed her in a sick and sadistic way that was directly tied into what he had done earlier.”

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20100602/NEWS/100609945/1070&ParentProfile=1058

Biela gives emotional statement to jurors

Page Last Updated: Tuesday June 1, 2010 9:28pm PDT

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- James Biela today gave a short but emotional statement to jurors who will decide whether he gets the death penalty for the murder of a college coed and the sexual assault of two others near the University of Nevada, Reno campus.

The 28-year-old Biela, standing from the defense table, told jurors that he felt "sorry" for incidents that have "destroyed several families."

He said he regrets that no matter what the jury decides he will never be able to see his son grow up and be a father to him.

He said he's sorry if he failed his son and he just wanted him to know that he loves him.

The same jury that will decide Biela's penalty convicted him last week of the murder of 19-year-old Brianna Denison and the sexual assault of two other women.

Video:
http://www.mynews4.com/story.php?id=18827

Jury sentences man to death for Nev. coed murder

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press Writer
Posted: 06/02/2010 03:04:45 PM PDT

RENO, Nev.—A jury sentenced a Nevada man to death Wednesday for raping and killing a college coed after sexually assaulting two others in a string of attacks that had the city of Reno on edge for most of 2008.

The same jury that convicted James Biela, 28, last week deliberated for about nine hours before reaching a unanimous verdict to execute him by lethal injection for the 2008 rape and strangulation of Brianna Denison, 19.

Her family members burst into tears and Biela stared straight ahead as the sentence was read aloud in Washoe County District Court. Biela's sentence will be automatically appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court.

The pipe fitter and ex-Marine from Sparks apologized Tuesday, saying he regretted that he would not be able to see his son grow up. His public defenders urged the seven women and five men of the jury to consider that he had no previous criminal record and had been abused growing up in poverty in the Chicago area.

But Denison's family and Washoe County prosecutors called death the only appropriate penalty for Denison's slaying in January 2008 during a series of assaults that began months before on the edge of the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno.

"It sickens me to know my poor baby girl was with you the last moments of her life," Bridgette Denison, the victim's mother, told Biela on Tuesday. "I know that James Biela is asking for mercy. I do not believe he deserves any mercy."

Deputy District Attorney Elliott Sattler said he agreed with public defenders who said the death penalty should be reserved for the "worst of the worst."

But he said Biela fit that category because he strangled Denison with thong underwear.

Detectives called the slaying the work of a serial rapist who stalked petite women and had a fetish for thongs. The two other assault victims said their assailant took their panties during attacks at or near UNR in the fall of 2007.

Denison, a sophomore at California's Santa Barbara City College, was home visiting friends during winter break when she was abducted Jan. 20, 2008, while sleeping on a friend's couch near the UNR campus.

http://www.orovillemr.com/news/ci_15212506

Good..........now go on with it. He is among the "worst of the worst"......

Brianna Denison's family make push for DNA to be taken in felony arrests

BY MARTHA BELLISLE
JUNE 3, 2010

When Brianna Denison disappeared in 2008, thousands of community members offered help and a group of friends and family were forced to learn quickly how to conduct an organized search.

Now that the trial for Denison’s killer is behind them, those same family members and friends are sharpening the skills they acquired through that traumatic process and have formed a foundation to help others stay safe, organize searches and change laws to avoid similar crimes.

James Biela was sentenced to death Wednesday after being convicted in Denison’s rape and murder, and the sexual assault of two other students. Sentencing on the sexual assault and kidnapping charges was set for July 30.

“It hasn’t registered,” Lauren Denison, Brianna’s aunt said of the end of the trial and verdict. “My biggest thing was I never wanted him to walk the streets again.”

“We would like to go back to our old lives, but we’re on a mission now,” she added.

“We’re going to really kick in now, now that we don’t have to be quiet anymore,” said Brianna’s mother, Bridgette, president of the Bring Bri Justice Foundation.

The group has put together safety kits that include door alarms, whistles and pepper spray for distribution at fairs, and has formed a search committee to streamline the process in future cases.

But the foundation’s main focus is fighting to get “Bri’s Law” passed in the next legislative session.

Bri’s Law would require law enforcement to collect DNA samples from everyone arrested on a felony charge at the time of the arrest, Denison said. The sample would be placed into a national database to determine if the suspect’s DNA is linked to any other crimes.

Biela had been arrested prior to Denison’s disappearance for threatening a former girlfriend with a knife. The charge was reduced to a misdemeanor, so his DNA was never collected.

If Bri’s Law had been in effect at that time, his DNA would have gone into a database and some of the subsequent crimes, including Denison’s murder, might have been averted, said Valarie Van Antwerp, the foundation’s vice president who is overseeing the DNA law change.

At present, 23 states, including California, have passed similar legislation, she said.

Lee Rowland, Northern Coordinator for the American Civil Liberties Union, said identical legislation was proposed during the 2009 Legislature and her organization opposed it. She said it violates the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure. Senate Bill 178 never moved out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

If the bill came back to the Legislature, Rowland said the ACLU would fight it again.

“The ACLU believes in the fundamental principal that individuals in America are innocent until proven guilty,” she said. “Seizing and storing someone’s DNA before they are guilty of any crime turns that principal on its head.”

The ACLU of Northern California has filed a federal lawsuit challenging California’s DNA for felony arrests law.

______________________

On the Web: The Bring Bri Back Foundation www.briannadenison.org

http://www.rgj.com/article/20100603/NEWS/100603048/Brianna-Denison-s-family-make-push-for-DNA-to-be-taken-in-felony-arrests-

Biela appeal process starts after July 30 sentencing

By Martha Bellisle
June 4, 2010

After James Biela is sentenced on the kidnapping and sexual assault charges, he'll be moved from Washoe County Jail to the prison system, and his lawyers will start filing their appeals.

Biela was placed on observation at the jail after being sentenced to death Wednesday for the 2008 murder of Brianna Denison, sheriff's Deputy Armando Avina said Thursday. The special watch, which includes a camera checked every 15 minutes, is to ensure that he doesn't hurt himself, Avina said.

After the July 30 sentencing for convictions on three counts of sexual assault and one of kidnapping, Biela will be sent to the Northern Nevada Correctional Center for a 21-day intake process, said Suzanne Pardee, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections.

From there, it's Ely State Prison, home for Nevada death row inmates.

Chief deputy public defender John Petty, who will handle Biela's initial appeals, said Nevada capital murder cases automatically go to the Nevada Supreme Court for review.

But he said he would file a notice of appeal as soon as Judge Robert Perry sentences Biela and enters a written judgment, Petty said. That's because the defense wants the Supreme Court to review all five of the charges, not just the murder, he said.

"We want to ensure that we are able to raise issues in the other counts," Petty said.

Petty said he not reviewed trial transcripts, but one concern to be raised is whether there was sufficient evidence to convict him on the sexual assault charges.

After the record of the case is sent to the Supreme Court, his office will have 60 days to file its opening brief, with the option of a 60-day extension, he said. Prosecutors will have 45 days to file a response and public defenders another 45 days to respond.

The briefing process should be complete by the end of the year, he said, and could be ready for the court to consider by January. The justices will decide whether to allow oral arguments, Petty said.

If they lose in the Supreme Court, the case will be sent to different lawyers, and they'll start an appeals process in Washoe District Court.

http://www.rgj.com/article/20100604/NEWS/6040395/Biela-appeal-process-starts-after-July-30-sentencing

Editorial: Despite jury recommendation, Biela's execution is a long way off

June 4, 2010

If our justice system were subject to truth-in-advertising laws, Nevada's death penalty would be high on the list of targets for regulators.

Many Northern Nevadans welcomed this week's recommendation by a Washoe County jury that James Biela be put to death for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Brianna Denison. But hardly anyone believes it actually will be carried out any time soon.

Although the Legislature has refused several times in recent years to declare a moratorium on the death penalty in Nevada, we already have a de facto moratorium.

The only criminals executed these days are those who go voluntarily, asking their attorneys to stop the appeals process and let them die.

That was the case with Daryl Mack, the last man executed in Nevada. Mack, who was convicted of murdering two women, chose death over spending the rest of his life in prison and was given a lethal injection on April 26, 2006, after he ended his appeals.

Ten others have been executed in Nevada "voluntarily" since 1976; only one man exhausted his appeals and was put to death.

A list published by the Gazette-Journal on Thursday of those on death row demonstrates the state's dilemma well. Among the 18 Northern Nevada men who Biela will join on death row are some of the most notorious in recent history.

The longest resident of that bit of prison real estate is Edward Wilson, who pleaded guilty in 1979 -- 31 years ago -- to killing a Reno police officer, James Hoff, in a drug sting that went horribly wrong.

The newest member is Tamir Hamilton, convicted in 2008 of raping and murdering a young Sparks student.

Others:

» Siaosi Vanisi, who bludgeoned a University of Nevada, Reno police officer to death with an ax, apparently for no other reason than he wanted to kill a police officer. He has been on death row since 1999.

» David Middleton, the subject of a current Secret Witness billboard. A former Miami police officer, he tortured and left for dead a teacher and a casino employee in a refrigerator he'd rigged up for the deed. He was sentenced in 1997.

» Ricky Sechrest, who admitted kidnapping and killing two young girls and burying their bodies in shallow graves near a highway north of Reno. He'd baby-sat for one of the girls. He was first sentenced in 1983.

The list makes it clear prosecutors can win death-penalty cases in Nevada. Actually executing convicted felons is much more difficult, however.

This is not a defense nor a condemnation of the death penalty. That's a bigger question that, so far, lawmakers in Nevada have been unwilling to tackle.

It is to question, however, just how serious Nevada is about it in 2010. A lot of Northern Nevadans celebrated the jury's recommendation that James Biela be executed rather than spend the rest of his life in prison. How will they feel if James Biela is still living on death row 31 years from now?

If we're not going to execute criminals in Nevada, perhaps it's time we said so.

http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20106040403

J4A & Piper... thank you so much for all the updates....

I'm so glad they found this creep guilty and sentenced him to death.... but this being on death row for 30ish years while appeal after appeal is filed is just outrageous.

He did it... he admitted he did it... what's the hold up? I say give him the needle already!

"Spread Safety" event aims to inform, honor Brianna's memory

By Jaclyn O’Malley
September 9, 2010

With its mission of keeping the community safer through constant education, the Bring Bri Justice Foundation is holding a safety event next week in downtown Reno.

Spread Safety Reno features self defense demonstrations and safety tips from University of Nevada, Reno police, live local acoustic music and gourmet food and drink specials.

The event is from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Thurs., Sept. 16 at Spread Peace Cafe, at First and Sierra Streets. All proceeds will benefit the Foundation, which was created by the family members of 19-year-old Brianna “Bri” Denison, who was raped and murdered in 2008 by Reno serial rapist, James Biela. He is now on Nevada’s death row after DNA linked him to the crimes.

Read more: http://www.rgj.com/article/20100909/NEWS01/100909036/-1/CARSON/-Spread-Safety-event-aims-to-inform-honor-Brianna-s-memory

Nevada governor proclaims Oct. 14 "Brianna Denison Day"

By Jaclyn O'Malley • jomalley@rgj.com • October 15, 2010

Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons proclaimed Oct. 14 as "Brianna Denison Day" to create awareness against violent crime and recognize crime victims and their families.

The proclamation was read during Thursday's Tapas and Teddy Bears fundraiser at the Eldorado Hotel Casino that benefitted the Bring Bri Justice Foundation. The foundation is pushing legislation that would require those arrested on felony charges to submit their DNA for testing to see if the sample is linked to any unsolved crimes.

Currently, DNA samples are only tested in Nevada upon conviction of a felony.

Democratic Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, the event's keynote speaker, supports the effort. She said Nevadans must not forget the impact violent crime makes on surviving family members. She thanked the Denison family for creating awareness about DNA and laws related to enhancing its collection.

Masto said had "Brianna's Law" been in effect prior to Denison's abduction and murder in January 2008, Denison's murder could have been prevented. James Biela, who is now on death row for Denison's murder, would have already been linked to the sexually motivated attacks against Reno college women that occurred in the weeks before the 19-year-old was killed. Years earlier, Biela had been arrested on a felony assault charge; it was later reduced to a lesser offense that did not require DNA testing upon conviction.

Read more:
http://www.rgj.com/article/20101015/NEWS0102/10150395/1321/news/Nevada-governor-proclaims-Oct.-14--Brianna-Denison-Day-

Brianna Denison case to be featured on 'Dateline NBC' Friday

By Martha Bellisle • mbellisle@rgj.com • October 29, 2010

The investigation that led to the arrest of James Biela in the rape and murder of Brianna Denison and the trial that sent him to death row will be featured in a one-hour episode of "Dateline NBC" at 9 tonight.

Josh Mankiewicz, a "Dateline" correspondent, said the show picks up from its earlier presentation when police were still searching for the killer, and it takes viewers through the trial to the final verdict.

http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=201010290389

Biela's Death Penalty Upheld

Updated: 3:36 PM Aug 2, 2012

CARSON CITY, Nev. -- Nevada Supreme Court justices upheld the death sentence for James Biela. Biela was convicted of rape and murder of 19-year-old college student Brianna Denison.

Read more: http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/Bielas-Death-Penalty-Upheld-164810656.html