"...Prosecutors said Jackson raped and killed 25-year-old Andrea Boyer in January 2007 around the time she showed up for work at the clinic...."
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ORANGE PARK, Fla. -- More than three years after a worker at an Orange Park animal clinic was killed, her accused killer is now going on trial.

Lawyers are picking a jury to hear the case against 39-year-old Michael Jackson. Jackson is a registered sex offender who spent 20 years in prison for raping a teenager in the 1980s.

Prosecutors said Jackson raped and killed 25-year-old Andrea Boyer in January 2007 around the time she showed up for work at the clinic.

"I think about her every morning when I walk in the gate," said Dr. Michal Harris, who worked with Boyer. "I can still see her sitting on the little stoop where my dogs used to run up and say hello to her every single morning. So she'll always be with us."

Harris said since Boyer was killed more than three years ago, no one at the animal clinic has forgotten her.


Click to view image: '1f22155bba59-_47047081_p10.jpg'"She was one of the brightest little lights that I've ever seen, and we were all blessed to have known her," Harris said. "I miss her every single day."

Boyer was a veterinarian technician at the Wells Road Veterinarian Medical Center. Prosecutors said Boyer was the first to show up at the clinic to open it at 5:30 a.m. the morning she was killed. An hour later, her co-workers found her dead.

"The most important thing for me is that Michael Bernard Jackson never be let loose again," Harris said.

As Jackson's trial begins, Harris and many who knew and loved Boyer said they'll be in court wanting justice.

"I look at this as something that we need to go through for Andrea, and I guarantee you that if the shoe had been on the other foot, Andrea would have done this for any single one of us," Harris said.

If convicted, Jackson could get the death penalty. Opening statements began Wednesday morning.