Jury Selection in Search of Two Alternates

As of 2 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 21

BONIFAY – After less than a ten-minute break the judge asked three to remain as the alternate jurors and excused the rest from their juror duties for this case.

The judge then given instructions for those three to return Wednesday and sworn to secrecy and prohibited from all media sources and social sites.

The attorneys stayed behind to discuss various aspects of the upcoming trial.

Scheduling:

Opening statements tomorrow at 9 a.m. and looking to have the first witness on the stand by 10:30 a.m. with 45 minutes for opening statements.

They’ve discussed various pieces of evidence that will be used in the case and their ability to be submitted.

Everyone was dismissed and asked to reconvene tomorrow morning for the trial.

As of 1:20 p.m.

BONIFAY – After an hour lunch break the search for the alternate three jurors continued with Attorney Kimberly Dowgul taking up her portion of questioning.

“Will any of you have any difficulty separating your emotion and sympathy from the facts?” asked Dowgul.

Dowgul explained what would happen in the second phase in the case.

“When or if you have to be in the second phase, and it is possible, you are not required to vote for death,” said Dowgul.

One juror said they would need at least two eyewitnesses before being able to sentence someone to death, but he said that he would follow the letter of the law.

“Even though they call they call it a recommendation for the life in prison or the death penalty there should be no doubt about the weight of this decision,” said Dowgul. “The judge can rarely go against the recommendation of the jury, so you should consider this greatly.”

As of 11:35 a.m.

BONIFAY – Attorney Brandon Young explained what constitutes as pre-meditated murder and what the second possible charge is.

“The intent to kill must be in the mind before the kill regardless of the time period,” said Young. “An example is if I was driving down the street and I seen a Piggly Wiggly and decided to grab some lunch. I didn’t anticipate grabbing some lunch from Piggly Wiggly before hand, but once I seen the Piggly Wiggly I had it in my mind that I wanted lunch from there. That’s pre-meditation.”

Another account possible is a felony murder. A felony murder is a murder committed while committing a felony, which in this case is during committing arson or a kidnapping.

The second count is the charge of kidnapping.

As of 11:17 a.m.

BONIFAY – Attorney Brandon Young went over the three different phases that will occur in this trial.

The first phase is the Guilt Phase. This is where the jury is presented evidence by the state to try to prove the guilt of the defendant. The jury will then have to come up with a unanimous decision of guilty or not guilty of first-degree murder.

The second phase is the Penalty Phase. The jury will then be presented aggravating and mitigating factors by the state and then the jury will have to weigh those factors and come up with a recommendation of either life in prison without parole or the death penalty, which will be based on a majority vote.

The third phase is the Sentencing Phase. At this time the judge presents the sentence, which Young said rarely goes overrides the jurors recommendation.

At present those chosen for the current jury all approve of the death penalty with reasonable cause.

As of 10:43 a.m.

BONIFAY – Judge Patterson announced that one juror had approached him earlier today and was excused from jury duty. This left a need for one more juror as well as two alternates.

The one alternate will be used to complete the jury panel of 12 and then the search for alternates increased by one.

After finding 15 members to move on the judge excused the rest of the potential jurors for the remainder of the trial and questioning of these 15 by the judge and the attorneys to find those three alternate jurors has commenced.

As of 10:17 a.m.

BONIFAY – Judge Patterson announced that one juror had approached him earlier today and was excused from jury duty. This left a need for one more juror as well as two alternates.

After much discussion the judge and attorneys agreed that the one alternate will be used to complete the jury panel of 12 and then the search for alternates increased from two to three today.

As of 10:05 a.m.

BONIFAY – Jurors have been excused so far because of being related to Mia and her family or Calhoun and his family in one form or another or because of media influence via television, internet and newspapers.

One potential juror said that they had a set opinion of the trial because of the media and said they would never be swayed otherwise because of it and that particular potential juror was quickly excused.

“We’re looking for someone who can truly rely on evidence and give a fair and unbiased verdict in this case,” said Judge Patterson. “Giving a faithful and true verdict based on the facts and the facts alone in this trial and have not already formed an opinion on this case. We’re looking for someone who will be able to remain unbiased and rely only on the facts presented during the course of this trial.”

As of 9:35 a.m.

BONIFAY - So far Johnny Mack Sketo Calhoun remained with the attorneys through the whole process.

The process started as it did yesterday, with attorneys and Judge Patterson questioning potential alternate jurors. They call in potential alternate jurors in sets of three and the attorneys and Judge Patterson questions them and either asks them to return upstairs to await further questioning or excusing them from further jury services for this trial.

“Guilt phase may last the rest of this week and some of next week,” said Judge Patterson. “The fact that I’m discussing a penalty phase shouldn’t sway your decision for he is innocent until proven guilty. We’re looking for a fair and impartial jury.”

BONIFAY – Jury selection continued Tuesday as the Holmes County Court searches for two alternates for the he Johnny Mack Sketo Calhoun Murder Trial which will be begin Wednesday morning.

“We’ve been working diligently to reach this point this morning, I wish to thank everyone for their hard work,” said Judge Christopher Patterson. “Now how to hold a fair and lawful trial the jury must base their decision on the evidence presented alone.”

Judge Patterson once again said that it is strictly prohibited to be in contact with anyone or any media regarding the trial in any way whatsoever. They are prohibited from using any communications via email, texting, social media (such as Facebook), blogging, etc. They are also not allowed to gather any information based on the trail, which includes television and internet news.

Charges are in a document called an indictment.

“We need a total of 15 people to serve on this panel for almost two weeks,” said Patterson. “Just to give you an idea of our schedule, if we are able to select the finial panel for the jury we will begin the trial tomorrow morning, if not we will extend the date.”