JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville judge will decide soon if prosecutors can use additional evidence in a trial against the man charged with killing his pregnant niece in 2018.
Attorneys for Johnathan Quiles filed a motion to prevent the court from hearing about his alleged sexual misconduct with a different relative.
Judge Anthony Salem did not make a decision Monday on whether or not the state can use the William’s Rule to introduce evidence, including deposition transcripts and Snapchat messages.
During the hearing, Quiles shook his head at the prosecution and even smiled.
His defense team argues a jury would be prejudiced against their client if the judge allowed prosecutors to bring up a sexual battery case involving another family member.
Quiles is charged with killing his niece 15-year-old Iyana Sawyer, who is believed to have been pregnant with his child, in Dec. 2018.
Prosecutors read from past depositions with a relative who said Quiles exposed his private parts to her, touched her breasts and even had sex with her while his daughter was on the same bed.
In a deposition, his now ex-wife told investigators Iyana and the other relative would babysit their own children while she was at work or sleeping.
“SS and IS would spend the night on weekends often and would see them every week," a state prosecutor said. "That IS and SS would sleep in the living room, on the couches.”
They also say a man in jail with Quiles told officials Quiles admitted to having sex with his niece and this other relative during Bible study.
Investigators found a journal entry they say was written by Iyana that talks about Quiles’s relationship with the relative.
“That journal entry discussed SS and the defendant,” a state prosecutor said, “and that is when Kim Mobley called the police in regard to SS and the defendant.”
Another hearing is set tentatively for mid-July.
Jury selection for Quiles’s trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 11.