Circuit Judge Ned Miller must decide whether or not Jerry Buck Inman will be put to death for the crime.
Inman admitted to strangling and raping 20-year-old Tiffany Souers in her apartment in Central.
The sentencing phase of his trial was suspended last September when a sociologist set to provide a profile of the 31 year old refused to testify, saying she felt threatened by 13th Circuit Solicitor Bob Ariail.
During the trial, Ariail asked Dr. Marti Loring is she knew it was a crime to practice social work in South Carolina without a license.
Loring held a license to practice in her home state of Georgia at the time.
Miller granted her immunity, but she would not testify, leaving the defense no choice but to find a replacement witness.
When the trial resumes, it will pick up exactly where it left off, Miller said.
Inman, of Dandridge, Tenn., admitted in court that he broke into Souers’ apartment as she slept, forced her to have sex with him and then strangled her to death with a bathing suit top.
He later tried to use her credit cards to withdraw money at a bank ATM.
Police arrested him in Tennessee several days after the murder. They linked him to the case through a national DNA database.
Inman had previously spent most of his adult life in prison for raping a Florida woman.
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