Jury selection in the trial of Scott Roeder, the man accused of fatally shooting abortion provider George Tiller, began on Wednesday after Sedgwick County, Kan., District Court Judge Warren Wilbert agreed to open part of the process, the AP/Washington Post reports. Initially, Wilbert ruled that jury selection would be closed entirely. However, the Kansas Supreme Court late Tuesday ordered Wilbert to reconsider his ruling, the AP/Post reports. In addition, four media outlets appealed the original decision.
After Wilbert revised his ruling to allow the four news media outlets in the courtroom after the jury pool is narrowed to 42, the early stages of jury selection began behind closed doors. Media attorney Lyndon Vix announced that the judge's ruling forbid broadcast or recording of the jury selection process, including updates from the courtroom on mobile devices. Wilbert permitted only one audio feed to a media workroom. Wilbert's latest ruling assumes that all potential jurors would want to be questioned in private due to unspecified "sensitive" issues that might arise.
Wilbert on Wednesday also released the 88-part questionnaire, which included only one question on jurors' personal opinions on abortion and seven questions on their religious beliefs. According to the AP/Post, about 18 questions dealt with jurors' exposure to media coverage of the case, their attitudes about the media and their media viewing habits. A majority of the questions dealt with routine information, including marital status, employment, family, health, military services and experience with the courts and law enforcement.
Roeder, who is charged with first-degree murder, has said his actions were justified. Wilbert on Tuesday also ruled that Roeder could try to build a defense around his allegation that he saved the lives of unborn children. He also said that it remains to be seen if the evidence would be sufficient to instruct jurors to consider a lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter (Hegeman, AP/Washington Post, 1/13).
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