A trial for the 2008 slaying of Santa Monica model and aspiring actress Julia Redding just took a major turn this week. DNA evidence left at the scene and now being presented at the trial matches that of Kelly Soo Park.
The prosecution led by Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Stacy Okun-Wiese, showed jurors photographs of Redding's lifeless body before painting a frightening picture of what happened.
"Juliana Redding spent the last moments of her life literally fighting to save herself," Okun-Wiese told the jury. "Juliana Redding tried to fight off a woman. A woman she did not know.... A woman who needs to be held accountable for her actions."
The basic theory from the prosecution starts off by describing a business deal gone sour. They claim that the bad blood formed between Redding's father and a Santa Monica physician ultimately cost the 21-year-old her life.
The physician, Dr. Munir Uwaydah, is alleged to have become angry at Redding's father after he cancelled negotiations for the development of a pain cream they were planning on creating. Those negotiations broke down a mere 5 days before Redding's death.
Redding also happened to be a former girlfriend of Uwaydah, but broke off the relationship with him after she found out that he had lied to her about his age and the fact that he was married. Her father had continued negotiation with the man only after his daughter gave her blessing.
So where does Kelly Soo Park fit into the picture? The prosecution has shown the Park was a business associate to the doctor, and not only that, but that park and her family had received multiple six-figure payments from Uwaydah before Redding was strangled to death.
So far the defense has not provided much compelling evidence in Park's favor. They attempted to play back an enhanced audio sound bite that the defense claimed proved that Redding's father was the killer, but also appeared to be the only ones in the courtroom who actually could make out what was said on the tape.
Other than that, the defense has simply asked the jury to "keep an open mind in this case."