The Rockland district attorney made opening arguments Thursday in the case against the day laborer accused of murder.

Thirty-year-old Ronald Douglas Herrera-Castellanos, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, was arrested for the brutal rape and murder of Mary Nagle, 42, in her New City home in April 2005. District Attorney Michael Bongiorno says Herrera, who was working with a power washer outside Nagle?s home, sneaked into her bedroom and attacked Nagle. Bongiorno says Nagle was raped, sodomized, slashed with a razor, beaten beyond recognition and strangled.

The prosecution plans to show DNA evidence of Herrera?s semen and blood at the crime scene and Nagle?s blood on the defendant?s clothes. His attorney says he's not sure yet if Herrera will testify in this trial. The defense decided not to make an opening statement.

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