Selection of jurors still unsettled
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on April 26, 2017 10:07 AM
A jury for the first-degree murder trial of Kenneth Morgan Stancil III was not finalized by the end of the trial's third day Tuesday.
Stancil is accused of shooting and killing Wayne Community College print shop technician Ron Lane on April 13, 2015, on the college campus.
According to pre-trial motions that were settled, Stancil plans to admit to shooting and killing Lane, which are two of four factors the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt for the jury to return a guilty verdict.
By the time court recessed Tuesday at 5 p.m., 11 jurors had been agreed upon by the prosecution and defense, and only one seat remained in question.
District Attorney Matt Delbridge and Stancil's defense attorney, Walter Webster, will take their turns questioning potential jurors for the remaining seat when court resumes today.
Superior Court Judge Jay Hockenbury is presiding over the case.
Multiple potential jurors were removed from the jury box following by questioning by both Delbridge and Webster.
Delbridge continued much of the same lines of questioning he took up on Monday, focusing on potential jurors' feelings about white supremacy, tattoos, homosexuality and prior knowledge of the case.
Webster got his turn to question the potential jurors Tuesday, honing in on whether Stancil's plans to admit guilt to two of the four factors required to convict him of first-degree murder would bias the jury.
He asked jurors if this admission would make them feel like the prosecution did not have to prove all four elements of the charge to return a guilty verdict.
Several jurors said it would affect their ability to hold the state accountable to prove all four elements. They were subsequently dismissed.
Webster also read aloud a list of racist, xenophobic and derogatory or otherwise bigoted terms to each potential juror.
He said these words were part of what he was sure would be presented as evidence by the prosecution -- a video of Stancil using these terms in an expletive-laden monologue.
Included in this list read by Webster were terms and phrases such as "wetback," "border-jumper," "welfare check-grabber," "white and proud," "deviants," "fiends" and as well as other terms, including racial and homosexual slurs.
Webster read this list to the jurors to determine whether or not the simple uttering of these words would inflame any of the potential jurors to the point of bias.
None of the potential jurors questioned by Webster said the words would affect their ability to deliver a fair and impartial verdict when the time came.
Webster also asked about the potential jurors' opinions on tattoos, and whether they listened to music or talk radio in the car.
He also inquired about any bumper stickers, decals or window clings anyone might have on their vehicle.
Both parties questioned the potential jurors on where they get their news from, whether they had prior knowledge of the case and any courtroom experience they've had in the past.
Webster ended his questioning of each potential juror by asking them whether or not Stancil's admission to two of the four elements required to convict him of first-degree murder -- shooting Lane and killing him -- would bias them toward not requiring the state to prove all four elements of the crime.
Only one potential juror said the admissions would make them disregard the need to prove all four elements, and they were then removed.
Stancil's trial will resume today at 9:30 a.m. with finalizing the final remaining juror seat before the prosecution and defense move on to questioning and selecting up to four alternate jurors.
Opening arguments in the case are expected to start this afternoon.