PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
Joseph A. Slobodzian, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Posted: Monday, January 7, 2013
Prosecution and defense lawyers this morning began the process of finding a jury of 12 Philadelphians to hear the criminal case against a priest and former parochial schoolteacher accused of serially sexually abusing a 10-year-old altar boy from the Northeast in the late 1990s.
A panel of 130 prospective jurors spent the morning completing a long questionnaire to determine what they know of the case against Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero.
By noon, the lawyers and Common Pleas Court Judge Ellen Ceisler had dismissed all but about 75, mostly for personal issues such as vacations, family events and health problems that would prevent them from sitting through an estimated two weeks of testimony.
The remaining jurors return to the Criminal Justice Center courtroom later this afternoon to be questioned individually by Ceisler to select a jury of 12 plus several alternates.
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