FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - The jury in Dayonte Resiles’ retrial has found him guilty.
The jury came to a verdict at around 10 a.m., Friday.
Resiles was found guilty of murder in the first degree.
He now faces the death penalty. At best, he’s looking at life in prison.
“We’re obviously disappointed, but now we have to move on and prepare for the penalty phase of the trial,” said defense attorney Michael Orlando.
Resiles stabbed 59-year-old Jill Su to death inside her Davie home back in September 2014.
Police said he was at the residence in an attempt to burglarize the home and found Su inside.
Su’s son, Justin Su, later found her body in the bathtub with her hands and ankles bound.
“Face down, in this bathtub, that’s just full of blood,” said Justin.
The prosecutor told the jury the evidence pointed to Resiles.
“DNA is the gold standard, and his DNA is there,” said Prosecutor Maria Schneider.
Two years after he was arrested, he escaped and ran out of the courthouse. He was on the loose for six days.
His first trial ended in a mistrial back in December.
One juror told 7News someone was unwilling to convict him based on the color of his skin.
“They said, ‘I don’t want to send a young black male to jail for the rest of their life,'” said the juror.
This time, they needed just two full days to deliberate before coming back with murder in the first degree. The prosecutor said it’s justice for the victim’s family.
“There’s nothing that’s going to bring back Mrs. Su,” said Schneider. “There’s nothing that’s going to make up the loss of, you know, a wonderful woman, but they’re so happy to know that they put their faith on the legal process and that in the end it worked out.”
The same jury that came back with the guilty verdict will decide if Resiles should spend the rest of his life in prison or get the death penalty sometime in April.
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