April 18, 2006

Religious beliefs a factor in jury selection

TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade

By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR

Seven of 20 prospective jurors interviewed today were dismissed in the second round of jury selection for the murder trial of the Rev. Gerald Robinson, who is accused of killing a nun in 1980.

Three of those were excused because of their strong feelings for or against the Roman Catholic Church and Catholic clergy. The rest had family or medical problems that would have prevented them from serving in a case that is expected to last three to four weeks.

The process of selecting 12 jurors and four alternates from a pool of 99 prospective jurors began yesterday and had been scheduled to conclude this afternoon, but a slow start with individual interviews yesterday pushed the selection process into tomorrow.

As of the 12:30 lunch recess today, a total of 50 prospective jurors have been interviewed and 10 have been excused.

Posted by kshaw at April 18, 2006 04:38 PM