Jury selection under way
Posted Mar04, 2008 at 12:32 PM
Four potential jurors were chosen this morning to hear the capital murder case of William Charles Morva, who is on trial in Washington County Circuit Court in Abingdon on charges related to the August 2006 killings of two men in Montgomery County.
As of lunchtime, prosecutors and defense attorneys had questioned nine people in groups of three.
Of those who were not chosen, one is opposed to the dealth penalty and three said they would automatically vote for the death penalty if they found Morva guilty of one of the three counts of capital murder he faces. Another potential juror was released after saying he would give added weight to the testimony of law enforcement officers.
A pool of 24 potential jurors must be chosen before the trial can start. That group will be winnowed down to 12 jurors and two alternates, with the prosecution and the defense each allowed to strike five jurors. None of the 69 witnesses expected to be called during the trial were summonsed to appear in court today and likely will not be called tomorrow either.
Because jury selection is expected to last at least another day, attendance at today's hearing is low.
Morva, 26, smiled and waved at potential jurors from his seat next to his attorneys when introduced as the defendant by Circuit Judge Ray Grubbs. He has pleaded not guilty to the seven charges he faces.
In stark contrast to a September attempt to seat a jury in Montgomery County, very few of the people questioned today are familiar with the case or with Morva or either of the victims, Derrick McFarland and Eric Sutphin.
In September, Grubbs decided to move the trial to Washington County after seeing the difficulty in seating an impartial jury in Montgomery.
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