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Judge to weigh DNA evidence in 1985 killing of Jacksonville teen
A judge denied David Nelson Austin’s request for acquittal in the bench trial over Leslie McCray’s 1985 killing and is scheduled to hear closing arguments Thursday. Prosecutors say DNA evidence linked Austin to the case decades later; the defense has raised questions about the evidence and his past residence at the crime scene.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A judge is expected to decide whether David Nelson Austin is guilty of first-degree murder in the 1985 killing of 17-year-old Leslie McCray after hearing closing arguments Thursday in a bench trial.
Judge Meredith Charbula denied the defense’s motion for acquittal Wednesday, rejecting the argument that prosecutors had not presented enough evidence. She said she would likely need about two hours to consider the case after attorneys make their final arguments.
Austin is accused of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and killing McCray on Christmas Eve. Prosecutors say DNA technology helped investigators connect him to evidence collected in 1985. Austin was indicted in August 2021 and chose to have a judge, rather than a jury, decide the case.
A surviving victim testified Wednesday that he was living with McCray in a St. Johns Avenue duplex when a man entered in the early hours of Dec. 24. The witness, who was 20 at the time, said the intruder bound him and took McCray from the home. He told the court he heard her plead with the man not to cut her.
“I felt terrorized and scared and shaky,” the witness testified. He freed himself and called police. McCray was later found stabbed to death in a ravine near Old Middleburg Road and Interstate 295.
The witness said he could not see the intruder’s face because it was dark. He had been a focus of suspicion for years, but investigators contacted him again when they reopened the case in 2019 and 2020. His DNA did not match samples from McCray’s sexual-assault kit.
Investigators then obtained a DNA sample from Austin, who had been serving a life sentence in Michigan since 1991 for sexual-assault convictions. Prosecutors say his DNA matched material from the 1985 evidence. A lead detective testified that Austin’s name had surfaced early in the investigation because he previously lived in the duplex.
That history has also figured in the defense’s case. Austin’s attorneys have suggested his former residence could provide an alternative explanation for why his DNA was found on a swab from McCray’s kit. Prosecutors have argued that his past connection to the home helps explain why there were no signs of forced entry. In a recorded interview played in court, Austin said he did not know McCray and had never had contact with her.
Austin did not testify, and the defense called no witnesses. The judge’s ruling will determine whether he is convicted of the first-degree murder charge.