2010 trial set for man in slaying of former Mendocino teen

RENO -- A former Marine pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of raping and killing a Reno college student and sexually assaulting two others near the University of Nevada, Reno.

James Biela, 27, is charged with murder in the death of former Mendocino resident Brianna Denison, as well as kidnapping and three counts of sexual assault. Wearing a black bulletproof vest over red jail garb, he answered, "Not guilty, your honor" five times after Washoe District Judge Robert Perry asked for his plea to each charge.

Trial was set for Feb. 22, 2010, and he remains jailed without bail. District Attorney Dick Gammick, who is prosecuting the case with Deputy DA Elliott Sattler, said his office will decide by next week whether to seek the death penalty.

Perry set a Jan. 14 status hearing to address any issues related to the death penalty and discuss motion scheduling.

Public defender Richard Davies agreed with prosecutors that the trial should take about three weeks.

Denison disappeared Jan. 20 while sleeping on a friend's couch. Her body was found Feb. 15 under a discarded Christmas tree in a hollow ravine in a southeast Reno business district.

During a preliminary hearing in mid December, a medical examiner testified she believed Denison had been strangled with one of two pair of women's thong underwear found tucked beneath her body.

Early in their investigation, police described the then unknown suspect as a serial rapist.

Biela also is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in October 2007 in a parking garage next door to where UNR police park their cruisers.

The woman identified Biela as her attacker during his preliminary hearing.

He's also charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman in December 2007. Biela became a target of the police investigation in early November after his girlfriend confided to a friend of finding a pair of small, women's thong underwear in the glove compartment of his pickup truck.

The friend called police.

Authorities obtained a DNA sample from the couple's 4-year-old son, and forensic experts determined the child's father could not be ruled out as a suspect in Denison's killing and the December 2007 sexual assault.

Biela was arrested Nov. 25 in the parking lot of his son's Reno preschool.

Investigators said a DNA sample taken from Biela matched DNA collected from the crime scenes.