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Blacksburg resident Starflower O'Sullivan says she's pleased with Judge Ray Grubbs' decision to move the William Morva trial out of Montgomery County, but that it won't diminish her interest.

O'Sullivan, who sat through part of jury selection this week and attended court today, enduring delay after delay, said it was the only way for Morva to receive a fair trial. O'Sullivan said she had no personal relationship with Morva or any of the victims but said she chose to be in the courtroom to offer support.

"I never understood how a venue in this county could have produced an unbiased outcome," she said.

O'Sullivan is a member of the Quaker Church's Blacksburg Friends Meeting and said both she and her church had been in contact through letters with Morva and the families of Eric Sutphin and Derrick McFarland.

They wanted everyone involved to know that people were available to talk to them, she said.

Morva never responded to the letters, but O'Sullivan said she then sent personal letters to both Morva and the families. Then, she decided to attend the trial.

"I felt a responsibility to be here first as a person and as a vessel to let them know someone was here for them," she said.

O'Sullivan, who is adamantly against the death penalty, said she plans to travel to the next venue chosen, at least for parts of the trial.

After court convened for fewer than 10 minutes, Judge Ray Grubbs dismissed the panel of 24 potential jurors until 1 p.m., saying that he and the attorneys are having ongoing conversations

No one has said what the hold up is, but Grubbs told one potential juror that he'd take a note she'd given to him under advisement after the break.

However, defense attorney Tony Anderson told the media to stick around.

Court was scheduled to begin at 8:30 this morning but has yet to start

Families of both Derrick McFarland and Eric Sutphin are sitting in the courtroom, along with the media. When court convenes, both sides are expected to begin striking jurors. Then, opening arguments are expected to begin.

No one has publicly explained the delay.

Judge Ray Grubbs, who told potential jurors court would likely go until 5:30 p.m. each day of the trial, has decided to interview one more group of potential jurors before he recesses for the day.

Two more jurors were just seated, leaving one more person to complete the pool of 24.

Five more people remain to be questioned, and three more potential jurors have just walked into the courtroom.

Judge Ray Grubbs needs to sit three more jurors to complete the pool of 24. Two more people were just seated.

Eight more people remain from the pool to be interviewed.

A new panel of three people to be interviewed are scheduled to enter the courtroom after a five-minute break.

The dragging on of the jury selection -- five more jurors must be seated and 11 more people are available to be interviewed -- appears to be taking its toll on William Morva.

At one point during questioning, Morva's head drifted downward as if he were falling asleep. sheriff's deputies walked behind him and one hit him on the shoulder and his head jerked upward.

He also doesn't seem to like attention from the video camera running between juror questioning. Twice he stretched out his middle finger and looked straight into the camera as he scratched different parts of his face.

At least three sheriff's deputies have entered the media room to view tapes of what they believe is "flipping off" of the camera.

"It don't get much more blatant that that," one deputy said.

Judge Ray Grubbs just recessed for a 45-minute lunch.

But before the courtroom emptied, he commented on the cold conditions.

"I did not realize until this morning in the paper that you all were freezing," he said.

Grubbs said he contacted maintenance in the building and said the temperature could not be changed.

"I can't tell you the reasons why," he said. "I can only advise you to wear heavy coats."

Virginia Tech Football Coach Frank Beamer won't need to call in favors to get equipment manager Lester Karlin out of jury duty.

Judge Ray Grubbs just dismissed Karlin as a potential juror in the Morva trial after both the prosecution and defense questioned him individually.

On Tuesday, Karlin told Grubbs that serving up to three weeks on the jury would cause hardship to his job "to get the Virginia Tech football team on the field and on the road."

Grubbs laughed at that saying that he should have Beamer call the judge to excuse Carlin

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Judge Ray Grubbs dismissed the third jury panel at 5 p.m. today even though he had originally said he wanted to continue both sides' detailed questioning of the smaller sets of potential jurors.

The decision came after defense attorney Tom Blaylock said the defense had a long drive ahead of them back to Roanoke. The reason for the journey: They weren't able to keep the hotel room they'd booked.

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Family members of shooting victim Derrick McFarland brought in sweaters and coats, the sheriff's deputy standing guard outside the courtroom is running a space heater and reporters have brought in blankets to help handle the cold temperatures in the courtroom.

And jury selection continues. Two more jurors have been seated, bringing the total of jurors to 15. Nine more people need to be seated to get the case under way.

Meanwhile, the frigid courtroom temperature is not likely to change. The air conditioning in the courthouse is on and will remain running until administrators here decide to turn it off. The older system only allows heat or AC to run, without ability to moderate between the two. The switch to heat usually occurs later in the year.