BALDWIN COUNTY, Ga. — In Baldwin County, the trial is underway for the man accused of killing University of Georgia Professor Marianne Shockley in May 2019.
Marcus Lillard faces a maximum penalty of life without parole.
Tuesday, we heard opening statements from both the prosecution and the defense, laying out their views of the case.
The opening statements shed light on each side's arguments for the trial. Beginning with the prosecution's case, Assistant District Attorney Nancy Malcor claims Marcus Lillard unintentionally killed Marianne Shockley by choking her while they were having sex.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation's autopsy says Shockley died by manual strangulation.
Prosecutors say that night, Lillard, Shockley, and Clark Heindel did drugs out at Heindel's backyard where there was a pool and hot tub.
The autopsy shows Shockley had ecstasy and marijuana in her system. Prosecutors say Lillard also had cocaine in his system.
Malcor says the state will call up several women who had previous relationships with Lillard. Some say Lillard would choke them during sex. Some said they would even pass out.
Defense Attorney Matt Tucker claims that the state has "placed an arrow" on Lillard and "painted a bull's-eye" around him.
Tucker says his client was in the woods gathering firewood when Shockley died and he came back to find her unconscious.
"He's charged with felony murder for killing her during the commission of a felony, aggravated assault for choking her too hard for too long," said Malcor.
"That did not occur," said Tucker. "The evidence will show there was no sex that night. There's none. There's a sex kit. There's no DNA."
ADA Malcor says Shockley and Lillard had an on-and-off again relationship for about a year-and-half before her death. The two were scheduled to go on a trip to Ecuador for a study abroad trip the week after Shockley died.
EMTs and deputies who responded to the scene also spoke during the trial, along with the first interviews Clark Heindel and Lillard gave to investigators.
Investigators noted their statements seemed inconsistent.
Heindel told investigators that they waited at least 45 minutes before calling 911, after they realized Shockley stopped breathing.