EAST COUNTY : Prosecution Rests Case in Murder Trial
The prosecution rested its case Thursday in the trial of a drifter accused of an East County murder in 1986.
Elmer Lee Nance, 63, is being tried in the rape and murder of 22-year-old Nancy Allison White, who was killed in August, 1986, after stopping along Interstate 8 in East County.
The jury Wednesday and Thursday heard an audio tape of a September, 1991, interrogation on which detectives with the Metropolitan Homicide Task Force used profane language to forcefully accuse Nance of committing the murder.
A detective conceded that he and his partner falsely told Nance they had physical evidence linking him to the crime. However, Nance is heard reluctantly admitting to White’s rape and murder during the 3 1/2-hour interview.
But a clinical psychologist testifying on Nance’s behalf told the jury Thursday that Nance had a low intelligence level and tended to “avoid rejection and humiliation by . . . submitting to abuse and intimidation.”
Superior Court Judge Bernard E. Revak ruled Thursday that the defense could show to the jury next week parts of a videotape on which task force investigators forcefully accuse another man of slaying White.
The jury is expected to begin deliberations Tuesday.
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