Casey Anthony jury selection enters second week today

Jury selection in the Casey Anthony murder trial resumed this morning and should wrap up either today or Tuesday at the latest.

The first prospective juror on the stand this morning is a nurse who has two children -- one who is the same age as Anthony's daughter, Caylee.

Anthony is accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter in 2008.

The prospective juror said she doesn't feel strongly either way about the death penalty and doesn't have extensive knowledge about the case.

"I really don't have any prejudgment," she said about whether the defendant is innocent or guilty. "I really don't know."

After six days, 12 jurors have survived the two rounds of marathon questioning, but none is officially on the panel yet. Judge Belvin Perry Jr. has said he wants to get to a "magic number" of 15 or 18 prospective jurors before he swears in the body.

He is looking for 12 jurors and eight alternates to take to Orlando for the high-profile trial. Instead of moving the entire trial because of pretrial publicity, jurors are being imported from Pinellas County.

The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks. Jurors will be sequestered at a hotel in Orlando and work six days a week and will be able to see their families only on Sundays, if family members make the trip from Pinellas to Orange County.

The judge had hoped to start the trial Tuesday, but it became apparent after the agonizingly slow pace of jury selection last week that would not be possible. The earliest date it could start would be Wednesday, but Thursday may be more likely at this time.

Perry plans to take a day off between the end of jury selection and the beginning of the trial.

Casey, 25, could face the death penalty if convicted.
Source:www2.tbo.com

Blog Archive