Man Gets Life Without Parole in 2012 UNC Student Killing

A North Carolina man was sentenced to life in prison without parole after a jury in Durham County convicted him on Friday (Oct 23) in the 2012 UNC student killing, WRAL reported.

Miguel Salguero Olivares, 33, was found guilty of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offence and first-degree burglary after jurors deliberated for about six hours over two days. The victim, a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was beaten to death in her off-campus apartment in Chapel Hill in September 2012.

Jury Verdict in UNC Student Killing

Judge Keith Gregory ordered the sentences to run consecutively, WRAL reported. Along with life without parole for the murder, Olivares received 240 to 348 months each for the rape and sexual offence convictions and 64 to 89 months for burglary.

DNA Evidence at the Centre of Trial

Olivares was arrested nine years after the killing, following a drink-driving stop in which he gave a DNA sample that prosecutors said matched evidence from the scene, ABC11 reported.

Experts testified that his fingerprints were found on a wine bottle and that his DNA was on the victim, on a note written on a fast-food bag and on a blood-covered rum bottle identified as the weapon.

“The forensic evidence is screaming his name,” prosecutor Angela Garcia-Lamarca told the jury, according to ABC11. Special prosecutor Lisa Coltrain said he had left his DNA “like confetti all over that room”, WRAL reported.

Conviction to Be Appealed

Defence lawyer Jason Murphy argued that investigators had tunnel vision and suggested his client may have forgotten an encounter. The defence called no witnesses, and Olivares did not testify.

WRAL reported that Olivares is appealing his convictions and sentences.

#latestmalaysia

Ex-NYPD Detective Pleads Not Guilty in GWB Shooting Death