Collegiate Times

William Morva trial

Three days and dozens of rounds of questioning later, the jury pool for William Morva's capital murder trial was finally pared down to 24 potential jurors Wednesday night.

After a long and sometimes grueling regimen of questioning, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs appointed the last juror to the pool at about 6:30 p.m.

From that pool, both the prosecution and defense will be able to strike five jurors, two will be chosen to sit in at the trial as alternates and 12 will serve on the jury.

Over the course of the three-day jury selection process, 59 potential jurors were dismissed from jury duty for a variety of reasons ranging from moral opposition to the death penalty to acquaintance with victims or witnesses.

One of the most prevalent reasons for dismissal was fear of jurors' inability to rule objectively due to the news coverage of August 2006 manhunt. Morva's attorneys, Tom Blalock and Tony Anderson, asked for several potential jurors to be dismissed because of their preconceptions of Morva's guilt.

"How could you not have an opinion?" asked one potential juror who was later dismissed from the pool of jury members.

Montgomery County Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Mary Pettitt argued that given the national attention given to the manhunt, it would be difficult to find jurors who hadn't been exposed to coverage. So long as jurors were objective in handling the case they should be allowed to serve on the jury, Pettitt said.

"We don't ask jurors to live in a vacuum and come in here without an opinion," Pettitt said.

Though Grubbs said that several jurors who were later dismissed would have likely been able to rule fairly, he tended to err on the side of caution.

"Any doubt about a juror's impartiality has to be resolved in the defendant's favor," Blalock said to Grubbs.

During the trial today, Morva appeared to fall asleep at point, only to be awoken by a Sheriff shortly after. Morva also appeared to raise a middle finger at a television cameraman while resting his head on his hand.

Morva has been charged with seven felonies, including three counts of capital murder.

Morva is charged with the murders of Montgomery County Sheriff's Department Corp. Eric Sutphin and Derrick McFarland, a security guard at Montgomery Regional Hospital.

Morva also faces a capital murder charge for killing two people within a three-year span.