Live blog: Travis Standlee murder trial continues

The prosecution continues its case at 9 a.m. Thursday in the second murder trial of Travis Standlee, a homeless man already serving 50 years for killing Raymond Ursino, 56, last year.

Standlee, 45, is charged with first-degree murder in the strangulation death of Sharon Mead, 41, whose body was found Sept. 11, 2015, at a bus stop on the Coe College campus. This trial was moved to Scott County District Court based on pretrial publicity to ensure Standlee receives a fair and impartial jury.

A prosecutor on Tuesday said during his opening statement that Standlee met Mead and her boyfriend that night, started drinking with them and then got Mead alone and started kissing her. When Mead rejected him, Standlee started choking her as he was trying to gain control of her.

A federal inmate in jail with Standlee last year testified Wednesday that Standlee admitted to killing her after she rejected him.

The defense said the prosecution's 'theory,” isn't fact. There are weaknesses in the state's case and a lack of evidence to convict Standlee of first-degree murder, Doug Davis told jurors during his opening.

Standlee's lawyers said Wednesday they were not going to rely on the defense of diminished capacity and/or intoxication, as they previously filed.

A criminal complaint shows Mead and Ursino were both were strangled and had 'strikingly similar injuries.” Standlee was convicted in June of second-degree murder in Ursino's death on Sept. 5, 2015.

Closing arguments may start this afternoon.