Kansas high court: Jury selection in serial murder trial should be open
By The Associated Press
09.13.02
OLATHE, Kan. — Jurors for the trial of serial murder suspect John E. Robinson will be selected in public proceedings and will be sequestered only during their deliberations, courts ruled this week.
Robinson, 58, is scheduled to go on trial Sept. 16 in Johnson County District Court in the county's first capital murder case in more than 30 years.
The Olathe resident is accused of killing Suzette Trouten and Izabela Lewicka, whose bodies were found in barrels on land he owned in Linn County, and Lisa Stasi, who disappeared in 1985. He is also charged with three killings in western Missouri.
Yesterday, the Kansas Supreme Court reversed a decision by Johnson County District Judge John Anderson III to close the jury selection process to the public, including the news media.
Anderson said last week that potential jurors must feel free to candidly answer personal questions and that he was concerned they might be influenced by the presence of the media. About 1,200 potential jurors will begin reporting to the courthouse Sept. 16 for the selection process, expected to take about a week.
Media outlets had appealed Anderson's decision to the Kansas Supreme Court, which ruled in 1981 that all court proceedings must be open "except where extraordinary reasons for closure are present." The court did not find such reasons in this case.
The judge's order barring cameras and microphones from the courtroom stands and cannot be appealed.
The news media had asked Anderson to reconsider his ban on recording devices, but he rejected their request on Sept. 5.
Anderson had previously announced that he would order the jury to be sequestered throughout the trial, over the objection of the defense.
But prosecutors at yesterday's hearing reversed their previous position and asked the judge not to sequester the jury.
Defense attorney Patrick Berrigan said the available number of potential jurors would increase because of the ruling because fewer would be seeking "hardship" dismissal from jury service.
Anderson said he would follow the joint recommendation. The judge and attorneys did agree that jurors would be sequestered during deliberations.