The trial for David Strickland began Monday morning in San Patricio County. Prosecutors say he fatally shot 19-year-old Mollie Olgin and severely injured her girlfriend, 18-year-old Kristene Chapa, in 2012 at a Portland park.
According to detectives, the two were sexually assaulted by Strickland before being shot in the head and left to die.
It was June of 2012 when police say Olgin and Chapa were enjoying a date night at Violet Andrews Park in Portland when they were sexually assaulted and both shot in the head. Olgin did not survive her injuries, and police said Chapa was barely alive when she was found the next morning.
It was not until two years later when police arrested 27-year-old David Strickland for capital murder. His trial was set to begin in 2015, but it was pushed back.
Strickland faces life in prison.
San Patricio County prosecutors told the jury that Strickland is the man who committed the crimes because police tested his gun and found it to be a match for the murder weapon. The prosecutor also said that a note left at the Chapa family's business several years later was written on Strickland's computer.
Defense attorney's argued that Strickland is innocent because Chapa told investigators from the beginning that the gun used was silver, whereas Strickland's weapon is black. The defense also maintains that Strickland's confession to investigators was full of holes and did not match the facts. They told the jury that they will have to decide for themselves if that was a confession of a guilty man or someone who was tired of questioning.
The first witnesses on the stand were the husband and wife who discovered the victims in the park.
Testimony in the case is expected to run through the middle of next week.
Kiii News Reporter Michael Gibson went Live from the San Patricio County Courthouse with the latest details.