Prosecutors begin presenting their case against a man accused of killing his stepfather with the help of his sister and making it look like an break in.
Timothy McNeil's body was discovered in his Rolando home in July 2007. Investigators believe Nathaniel Gann, 20, and his sister, Brae Hansen, 19, were involved in the attorney's fatal shooting during a phony home invasion robbery.
On Friday, the case against Gann got under way. Deputy District Attorney George Bennett told jurors a black ski mask found outside the crime scene contained Gann's DNA. He also said that after the suspect was jailed, he allegedly told an Arizona inmate how he and his sister planned to kill the victim.
The defense attorney Ricardo Garcia suggested that informant was a snitch who could not be trusted. He also alleged Gann had been set up by someone else.
Jurors also heard a 911 call Hansen made on the day of the slaying. Hansen was tied up with zip ties at the time the call was placed, the deputy district attorney said. She could be heard on the tape describing the gunman, who she said was dressed in black and armed with a silver handgun. Prosecutors also told the jurors that they wanted to make sure the jury knew Gann fired the gun that killed McNeil.
Hansen confessed to planning the murder with Gann, according to police. Defense attorneys, however, maintain that her rights were violated.
She is scheduled to go to trial in January.
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Gann faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of first-degree murder and a special circumstance of lying in wait.
