Kris Zocco, man charged in death of Kelly Dwyer, in court for Preliminary Hearing

Kris Zocco, the man now charged in the death of Kelly Dwyer, was in court for a lengthy Preliminary Hearing today. 

The man accused of killing Kelly Dwyer in 2013 listened to testimony about his sexual past during a preliminary hearing.

The defense says this case is all circumstancial evidence.

"Deep concerns. We strongly contest that the state has enough evidence even to rise to the level of probable cause to believe that, first of all, a crime was even committed in the jurisdiction of Milwaukee County and, second of all, that Mr. Zocco committed that crime," said Craig Mastantuono, Zocco's lawyer.

There is a lot of circumstancial evidence. Thursday, the prosecution went deep into what they call the "deviant" sexual past of Kris Zocco.

The prosecution went through the details listed in the 16-page criminal complaint to support their theory that Kelly Dwyer died of strangulation during a sex act.

The purpose of the Preliminary Hearing was to confirm probable cause and in this case, it involved the testimony from witnesses that had sexual relationships with Zocco.

A police detective spoke on those witnesses behalf today, explaining Zocco's behavior starting decades ago, up to the days and weeks surrounding Dwyer's disappearance. 

That testimony included a piece of evidence in Zocco's relationship with Kelly Dwyer -- a video found on Zocco's cell phone.

"She is blindfolded at the time. She's tied up; again, her hands are tied behind her back, and her legs are tied to the bed... while this sex act is going on, she is gasping for air, gurgling and definitely struggling. You can definitely see that she's struggling to breathe," said Detective Katherine Spano, a now-reitred Milwaukee Police detective.

The defense didn't anticipate how long testimony would take. An hour into the hearing, it was paused because Attorney Mastantuono had another appointment. Testimony will continue, and two more witnesses will be called to the stand when it resumes on Friday, June 2nd.