Jury in trial for 2015 Minneapolis murder case to deliberate
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Closing arguments took place Monday in the trial for a 2015 Minneapolis murder case and jury deliberations are now underway.
The jury did not reach a verdict Monday and will continue deliberations Tuesday morning.
The case was launched after 68-year-old Susan Spiller was found dead inside her home along Dupont Avenue North on July 16, 2015.
Demetrius Wynne, 21, was charged with second-degree intentional murder and second-degree murder while committing a felony. Wynne, who was 14 years old at the time of the incident, was initially arrested and charged by juvenile petition.
According to a charging document filed at the time, investigators found fingerprints on the windowsill of Spiller’s home that matched Wynne’s fingerprints. Though Wynne denied having been to Spiller’s house and denied having seen her before, investigators allegedly found DNA matching Wynne from a fingernail clipping from Spiller’s hand, according to the charging document.
Ira Whitlock, Wynne’s defense attorney, says his client testified during the trial that he was often at Spiller’s house next door, and he was helping her garden the day before when she fell and grabbed his arm, explaining why Wynne’s DNA was found on her.
During closing arguments Monday, the state alleged Wynne brutally attacked Spiller, breaking her jaw and stabbing her five times. Prosecutors added that Spiller “fought like mad” with her attacker, arguing that’s how she got his DNA under her fingernails.
Demetrius Wynne. (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office)
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Spiller’s death was caused by “complex homicidal violence.”
Friends and family of Spiller filled the courtroom Monday wearing purple — her favorite color — and shirts with greyhounds, which was one of her loves.
“She left her mark on the community,” Connie Beckers, one of Spiller’s friends, said. I think anybody who knows her … knows this shouldn’t have happened … I think 7 years later … it shouldn’t have happened.”
“People like that are a rare gem — we were devastated as a community when she was killed,” former Minneapolis City Council President Barb Johnson, a friend of Spiller’s, said.
The trial for the case began last week.
In the trial’s initial days, Whitlock said, “A fingerprint is not a murder,” claiming Wynne and Spiller had a “friendly relationship.”
Monday, he added, “It’s in the jury’s hands, we’ve got to be patient … I trust our process.”
The jury wrapped up deliberations at 4:30 p.m. Monday and will resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday.