The penalty phase retrial of a man facing the death penalty is one step closer to beginning after the prosecution, defense and judge identified 85 prospective jurors who are qualified to hear the case. In a June 6 memorandum, Eastern District Judge Nicholas Garaufis (See Profile) said an approximately three-month jury selection process was "nearly complete" for the retrial of Ronell Wilson, who was convicted for the 2003 murders of two undercover police detectives. On June 18, the 12 jury members and six alternates will be picked from the 85 qualified "veniremen."
After 4,000 prospective jurors were summoned for the case, beginning in March, 1,992 individuals filled out an 80-question survey, the judge noted. Afterward, 419 prospective jurors were called in for individual voir dire proceedings before Garaufis, Wilson’s attorneys and Eastern District prosecutors. Over seven weeks, 85 of those individuals were deemed qualified to fairly weigh whether Wilson should be sentenced to death or spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of release.
