Opening statements launch Tellis retrial

BATESVILLE, Miss. (AP) – Prosecutors say evidence will show a man killed a Mississippi woman by setting her on fire, but defense attorneys say prosecutors can’t prove it and that someone else killed her.

Quinton Tellis is being retried on capital murder charges in the death of Jessica Chambers in 2014, after jurors couldn’t reach a verdict in a first trial last year.

This trial could last a week. Prosecutors say cellphone locations, video, DNA on a keychain and Tellis’ statements link him to Chambers’ death. A new witness may testify she picked up Tellis that night near where Chambers was burned.

The defense emphasizes multiple emergency workers heard the dying Chambers say someone named “Eric” attacked her.