The trial of a local homeless man charged in Celebration’s only murder case began with jury selection today in the first-degree murder trial of David Murillo, who will turn 31 on Valentine’s Day.

Opening arguments will be heard at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in Judge Mark Blechman's courtroom; Assistant State’s Attorney Bradford Fisher believed the two sides would likely close on Thursday.

Murillo was charged in the murder of 58-year-old Matteo Giovanditto in the victim’s Water Street townhome in Celebration. The victim, who was believed to be bludgeoned with a hatchet, was found Nov. 29, 2010. The case, delayed multiple times by motions to suppress prosecution evidence and other continuances, went to trial at the insistence of the State Attorney’s office, but not after some negotiations by both sides late last week.

The state offered Murillo, who faces a life sentence if convicted of the crime, a plea deal of a 35-year prison sentence, or 30 years with gain time and five years of probation.

Defense attorney Michael Nielsen said Murillo rejected those deals, and Nielsen countered with a 20-year sentence with 10 years of probation, which the state in turn rejected. Nielsen then recommended his client take the state’s offer of 30 years and five years probation offer, which Murillo again refused.

A jury of nine women and five men, with two of the 14 as alternates, will determine Murillo’s fate.

In the months prior to the trial, the defense moved to suppress much of the evidence from Det. Alex Bejarano’s report of Murillo’s transient camp behind a Ramada hotel on U.S. Highway 192 just west of Simpson Road. But, the defense noted Murillo had been read his Miranda rights on many occasions during the investigation, and that he took law enforcement to his camp and showed them evidence prior to being confronted with any of the state’s evidence or being told a search warrant had been obtained.

According to the report, Murillo himself retrieved the alleged murder weapon (an ax) and shoe the state alleges he wore in the act of killing Giovanditto.

Murillo told Osceola County Sheriff’s detectives he killed Giovanditto because Murillo suspected Giovanditto had drugged his drink, and thought Giovanditto was making sexual advances toward him.