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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A Utah man convicted of killing his 18-year-old fiancee a day before their wedding is seeking a new trial.
Attorneys for Billy Justin Charles, 34, claim multiple pieces of evidence were not introduced during his trial and that investigators failed to test the DNA of hair and tissue samples found at the murder scene.
Prosecutors insist they convicted the right person and that a new trial is unwarranted.
Charles is serving a prison sentence of five years to life for killing Jamie Weiss in 1996. Her naked body was found in a tub of water in the trailer the two shared with their then 2-year-old son in Magna, about 15 miles west of Salt Lake City. Weiss, who was 18, had been beaten to death.
It took authorities 11 years to gather enough evidence to charge Charles in the murder.
Jurors did not see almost a half-dozen pieces of evidence that could have influenced their decision, appellate counsel Troy Booher said after Thursday's hearing on the matter. Those included statements that backed up a claim by Charles that Weiss helped him start his truck when he left for work the morning she was killed.
Evidence suggesting someone else was spotted at the mobile home after Charles left was also not introduced, Booher said. Also, investigators never tested hair samples found in Weiss' hand even after visual analysis suggested they were not from Charles or Weiss.
"It shows the investigators never investigated anybody except Billy, and they let other leads go cold," Booher said.
The prosecution says that even if the jury had seen all of Charles' additional evidence he still would have been convicted.
"We are absolutely confident he killed her," said Ryan Tenney, an assistant attorney general representing the state in the appeal. "The evidence is really strong against him."
For example, Tenney said, a neighbor outside that morning said Charles started his truck alone.
As for testing the hair samples for DNA, Tenney said any results would have been inconclusive. Charles is a convicted drug dealer, so hair was present in the home from many people, Tenney said.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
