After calling two witnesses Monday, the defense rested its case on behalf of a former Marine accused of murder who was found nude and passed out atop his former girlfriend's lifeless body inside her Murrieta apartment.

Defendant Wade Griffin III, 41, is charged with first-degree murder, lying in wait and attempted rape in connection with Ever Council's March 19, 2007, strangulation death.

As she promised jurors in her opening statement, defense attorney Colleen Lawler called a witness to testify that Griffin was 10 miles away earlier that morning, and therefore, she maintains, not lying in wait for Council at her Mapleton Avenue apartment complex.

With a photocopy of Griffin's driver's license and a check in hand, Lawler asked Mike Jaber, owner of Mike's Market & Liquor in Temecula, about the store's check-cashing protocol.

The paperwork from Jaber's store indicated Griffin's check was cashed at 6:37 a.m. on March 19, 2007.

Jaber said the document was from his store, and noted an important fact.

"We open at 7 a.m.," Jaber testified.

Deputy District Attorney Brandon Smith questioned Jaber further about the veracity of the time stamp on the document.

"We can open later than seven but not before," Jaber testified. "This check can't be cashed at the store at 6:37."

Smith asked if the time on such records needed to be accurate.

"It doesn't have to be," Jaber testified.

When asked by Lawler if the time stamp was only off by an hour due to the time change for daylight-savings time, he said that was probably the case, but in response to questioning by Smith, Jaber said the date and time stamp shouldn't be relied upon.

The defense maintains Griffin arrived at Council's home after she was savagely beaten and strangled. Lawlor told jurors earlier in the trial that he was so overwrought with grief that he swallowed the prescription medications in Council's medicine cabinet. Griffin disrobed and passed out before he could call for help, she said.

Council was found dead inside her bedroom by the management of the Sonoma at Mapleton complex after her boyfriend, Jeff Warthen, asked them to check on her.

During the trial, Warthen testified he called Council around 9:30 a.m. and while they were talking she let out an ear-piercing scream before the call was disconnected.

Unable to reach her again by phone, Warthen left Camp Pendleton and went to her apartment. He later got the complex management to go into her apartment and check on her. Warthen said he did not call police because he did not know her physical address, only how to get there.

Prosecutors say that Council is believed to have died between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m.

The defense's final witness, one of Council's neighbors, testified he did not see or hear anything unusual around 9:30 that morning.

Chris Sanchez testified he lived on the ground floor, below Council's apartment, and arrived home around 8:30 a.m.

During the next hour, he showered and changed his clothes before leaving again around 9:30 a.m.

Under questioning by the defense attorney he testified that he did not see anyone approaching the building at that time.

The prosecutor asked Sanchez if he could have left his apartment around 9 a.m.

"Could've been," Sanchez replied.

Sanchez said it was a quiet building and he did not recall ever hearing noises from other units during the time he lived there.

Closing statements are expected to be delivered Tuesday morning.

If convicted as charged, Griffin faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.