Prosecution expected to rest next week in murder retrial of Denny Ross

AKRON, Ohio - Prosecutors are expected to rest their case next week in the retrial of Denny Ross for the 1999 murder of 18-year-old Hannah Hill.

More than 60 witnesses have testified for the state in the trial which has lasted 16 days so far.

On Wednesday, Michael Riley was called to the witness stand.

He testified Ross was his friend and the two drank beer, smoked pot and played video games at Ross' Springfield Township apartment on several occasions.

Riley said he got into two fights with Ross. During the second tussle, Riley said he broke Ross's arm. When Ross was arrested and appeared in court in 1999, his left arm was in a cast.

It's unclear whether prosecutors will try to argue that cast material was present on the victim or at the crime scene.

Hill was strangled and stuffed inside the trunk of her Geo Prism. Her body was found about a week after she was reported missing in the Akron neighborhood of Ellet.

Ross went on trial in 2000 for the killing, but the case ended in a mistrial.