LATE UPDATE: Jurors completed their first full day of deliberations today without reaching a verdict in the trial of a Soboba Indian tribal member accused of hiring a cabbie to take him onto the reservation, then shooting him in the back of the head.

Deliberations will resume Tuesday morning in the trial of Gabriel Gerard Resvaloso, 34, with is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of James Burrows, who was found mortally wounded on the reservation on Dec. 4, 2005.

Resvaloso could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole if he is convicted of the slaying, and jurors also find true a special circumstance allegation of committing a murder during a carjacking.

Original report: Jury deliberations will resume today in the murder trial of a 34-year-old Soboba Indian tribal member accused of taking a cab onto the reservation, ordering the driver out and putting a bullet into the back of his head.

Gabriel Gerard Resvaloso is charged with first-degree murder for the shooting death of 42-year-old James Burrows, who was found mortally wounded on the reservation Dec. 4, 2005.

Resvaloso could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole if he is convicted of the charge, which includes the special circumstance of committing murder during a carjacking.

The yellow Scion used as a cab by Burrows was found near a motel where Resvaloso was staying at the time. The cab had been first summoned for the defendant late on the night of Dec. 3, 2005.

In his closing argument last week, prosecutor Daniel DeLimon said the defendant carried a gun with him that night, hidden in a concealed holster. He said Resvaloso had Burrows drive him to an isolated area of the reservation.

“In that time he could have decided not to do it,” DeLimon said during closing arguments of Resvaloso’s trial.

Instead, Resvaloso “forced him (Burrows) out … and he ended his life,” DeLimon said. “The only way to describe what happened is an execution.”

The prosecutor pointed to evidence presented during trial that the gun used to kill Burrows was found under a mattress in Resvaloso’s motel room. Witnesses also testified that DNA found on beer cans left in the car and the Scion’s steering wheel belonged to Resvaloso, DeLimon said.

Mark Traughber, a criminalist with the state Department of Justice, testified last week that Resvaloso’s DNA was rare, occurring in fewer than one in a trillion people.

But defense attorney Christopher DeSalva, whose closing argument took about four hours over two days — separated by a day when the courthouse was closed — told jurors that the prosecution’s evidence was strictly circumstantial.

“Our system demands beyond a reasonable doubt,” DeSalva said.   “The burden of proof rests with the prosecutor,” DeSalva said. “Where is the evidence that a carjacking actually occurred?”

Surveillance-camera video show the Scion entering the reservation and traveling back and forth from the casino area to another spot a number of times before 5:15 a.m, when Resvaloso is captured by the motel’s surveillance, returning on foot to the inn.

“We know there was no motive presented in this case,” DeSalva said, suggesting the prosecution failed to prove there was premeditation, and “there’s no direct evidence that Mr. Resvaloso fired the round that killed Mr. Burrows.”