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Jury pool full of close ties

Posted Sep17, 2007 at 04:50 PM

During attempts to seat people from a second group of potential jurors, Circuit Judge Ray Grubbs dismissed one of Willam Morva's former school classmates.

"Me and Mr. Morva went to high school together," he said.

When pressed further about whether the relationship would cloud his judgement, he cut off Grubbs and said, "We were on a first-name basis."

The former Blacksburg High School student was not the first possible juror to be dismissed because of close ties to the case.

Montgomery Regional Hospital spokeswoman Suzanne Barnette was sent home earlier after revealing that she worked for the medical center and could not set aside her opinions on the case.

"I handled the media," she told the court.

Barnette was interviewed numerous times by reporters in the wake of the incident for which Morva is charged and has been involved in fundraising for the victims of that incident and setting up a memorial at her hospital for McFarland.

Trial becomes 'good learning experience'

Posted Sep17, 2007 at 04:29 PM

The family of lead defense attorney Tony Anderson visited Montgomery County Circuit Court on Monday and used the high-profile case as an educational field trip of sorts.

The attorney’s wife, Paula Anderson, said she and her son, Gavin, brought their foreign exchange student, Arthur Latsch, to the first day of jury selection as a “good learning experience.”

Arthur, a high school student from Hamburg, Germany, is staying with the family. He sat in the back of the courtroom, with his eyes straight forward most of the day.

Gavin said he has sat through his stepfather’s cases before.

Two jurors seated

Posted Sep17, 2007 at 12:10 PM

Judge Ray Grubbs has seated two women jurors. One man was dismissed -- making him the ninth from the jury pool to be sent home -- because he had ties to the county school system and said he knew police officers.

The second group of three jurors is now being questioned. The prosecuting attorneys and the defense both have a chance to query potential jurors in sets of three.

One potential juror just said he had formed opinions about Morva's guilt after reading and watching news coverage of the case.

Eight jurors dismissed

Posted Sep17, 2007 at 11:08 AM

Eight of an initial pool of 22 potential jurors for the Willam Morva trial were dismissed this morning after each said he could not be impartial. Two of those jurors also said they had medical issues that would keep them from serving during the scheduled three-week trial.

Continue reading "Eight jurors dismissed" »

Press clippings swell Morva file

Posted Sep17, 2007 at 09:56 AM

William Morva doesn't have a case file. He has a box of material -- far more than a typical defendant.

Much of the box is filled with examples of the voluminous coverage the case has gotten in newspapers and on television.

Morva's lawyers have been entering media accounts of their client into evidence in a bid to get the trial transferred out of the county, arguing their client can't get a fair trial here.

The 32 juror candidates questioned for a March trial on robbery charges that predate the murder charges all said they knew of Morva.

Many also said they thought he killed security guard Derrick McFarland and Montgomery County Sherrif's Cpl. Eric Sutphin.

When Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs decided to try to seat a local jury for Morva's murder trial he left the door open to changing locations based on how jury selection goes, which should at least start to become evident today.

-- The Roanoke Times
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