Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Jury selection in Morva trial moves steadily
Seven more potential jurors were selected, and the trial is expected to begin Thursday.
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CHRISTIANSBURG -- If the current pace continues in the jury selection process, one more day is all it will take to assemble the pool needed for William Morva's capital murder trial.
Seven more potential jurors were selected Tuesday, the second day of jury selection, bringing the total to 16. Twenty-four are needed for the court to have a jury of 12 and two alternates after the prosecution and the defense each let five people go.
Morva's trial is expected to begin Thursday with opening statements. Then Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Brad Finch and Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Mary Pettitt will begin to present their case against the 25-year-old Blacksburg man.
Morva is accused of knocking out a deputy who had escorted him to Montgomery Regional Hospital early on the morning of Aug. 20, 2006, and using the deputy's gun to fatally shoot two people.
Police have said Morva shot Derrick McFarland, a hospital security guard, during the escape and Cpl. Eric Sutphin of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office the next morning as Sutphin looked for Morva on the Huckleberry Trail.
Morva is charged with three counts of capital murder: one in each of the two deaths and one because he is accused of killing more than one person in fewer than three years.
Morva also faces two counts of using a firearm in the commission of murder, assault and battery of a law enforcement officer and escaping with force.
As they questioned potential jurors Tuesday, two of Morva's defense attorneys seemed to focus their efforts on gleaning information about the jurors' views on the death penalty.
Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times
Defendant William Morva points to someone
in the gallery while talking to his attorney Tom Blaylock after a
recess was called during the second day of jury
selection.
Defense attorney Tom Blaylock asked one person how he felt about the death penalty at least five times, prompting Pettitt to object three times, saying the person had already answered.
"He can't be much clearer," Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs told Blaylock at one point after Blaylock repeated a question a potential juror had just answered.
One person was excused from jury duty after saying he believed in "an eye for an eye" and would automatically vote to sentence Morva to death if he found that Morva committed a murder.
Another was excused after saying he wouldn't want to wake up every day for the rest of his life knowing he was responsible for sentencing someone to death.
"It's a real tough moral question," Blaylock told the potential jurors.
Eighteen people were excused from jury duty Tuesday, bringing the total from the two-day process to 40.
But again Tuesday, most people were excused because they couldn't sit through a trial that could last up to three weeks, or because of their ties to people involved in the case. Only a few cited pretrial publicity.
Morva's attorneys have moved several times for a change of venue, citing pre-trial publicity that could have tainted the jury pool. Each time, Grubbs has taken the motion under advisement, saying he'll wait to see how smoothly jury selection goes.
Blaylock renewed his motion for a change of venue Monday, but it wasn't mentioned Tuesday.
With more than 30 witnesses who could be called to testify for the prosecution and more than 20 for the defense, many people have been released because of their relationships with witnesses.
Tuesday, two were excused because they are friends with Finch, two because of ties to Sutphin's family and one because of ties to McFarland's.
