Jury Selection

Jury selection in the criminal trial of State Supreme Court Justice Rolf Larsen started here yesterday, and defense attorney William C. Costopoulos said his witness list included State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo and State Attorney General Ernie Preate Jr.'s brother, Robert. Costopoulos disclosed his witness list at the request of Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge J. Terrence O'Brien. Later, he would not say why he wanted to call either man. Costopoulos already has lost a court ruling that bars him from calling Ernie Preate, who is running for governor; State Supreme Court Justice Ronald D. Castille, or any other witness he wanted to call to support his contention that the charges were politically motivated.

Courtroom proceedings in the case of a murdered Chester store owner have taken on characteristics reminiscent of the Dell Gease murder trial that ended in a death sentence this month. During a pretrial hearing yesterday, Thomas Charles O'Neal, 18, who is charged with murdering Kuldip Singh in August, showed some of the volatile nature that Gease displayed several times during his trial. As his handcuffs were removed in the courtroom yesterday, O'Neal snapped at Deputy Sheriff Gregory T. Price, "If you ever touch me again, I'm going to kill you," Price said.

Jury selection began yesterday in Gloucester County Superior Court in the murder trial of David M. Russo, the Air Force sergeant charged with fatally shooting a Monroe Township man and wounding two others. Russo, 31, of Dover Air Force Base, Del., is charged in the slaying of Joseph Iovanisci, 20, of Monroe Township, during the March 7, 1985, robbery of an automobile-repair shop in Woolwich Township. If convicted, Russo could receive the death penalty. Russo also is charged with wounding Dino Rossi of Greenwich and Ann Marie Kiley of East Greenwich during the robbery.

A black, drug-peddling sex offender who claimed that blacks were systematically excluded from his jury will get a court hearing on his racial discrimination complaint. Harvey Weaver, 25, who was convicted by an all-white jury last year of sexually molesting a 19-year-old woman, produced evidence of "purposeful discrimination" in selecting a jury, said the state Superior Court this week. Superior Court Judge James E. Rowely wrote that the prosecutor "is obliged to provide reasons of sufficient detail to permit meaningful review by the trial court and, if necessary, the appellate court.

The battle between Democratic incumbent District Attorney Lynne Abraham and her GOP endorsed rival, Jack McMahon, an ex-prosecutor-turned prominent defense lawyer, reminds me of a battle between two greasy wrestlers. Both Abraham and McMahon are slippery characters who've committed more than a few flagrant fouls in their time. Each has twisted the truth into more turns than a Philadelphia pretzel. Both have allowed more than a few insensitive remarks to escape their lips. Each stands as a precise example of what is wrong with Philadelphia, a great city perpetually plagued by poor leadership.

A Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury returns Monday to continue deliberating in the murder trial of West Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell. The jury of seven women and five men, which has deliberated for a total of about 51 hours since April 30, broke for the weekend at 1:30 p.m. Friday after telling court officials they were "drained. " The jurors seemed to spend much of the week tackling the murder charges against Gosnell, 72, who operated the Women's Medical Society clinic at 3801 Lancaster Ave. from 1979 to 2010 when it was closed after a federal-state drug raid.

Robert Raymond Rambo, a mechanic who works nights at a trucking company outside San Francisco, was awakened about a week ago by pounding on his front door. Outside was a person from his South Jersey past: Washington Township Detective Sgt. James Fanelli. Lawrence Magid, a Gloucester County prosecutor, was with him. They wanted to talk about a murder. According to court records obtained yesterday, it was Rambo who led authorities to suspect Robert F. Brown in the August 1981 kidnapping and slaying of Karen Sewekow, the only daughter of a Medford Lakes insurance executive.

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - The young police officer eased his cruiser down the street on the afternoon of Jan. 14, 2011, rolling up alongside a younger man he wanted to speak with about something. It was, as a friend of the officer would later recall, "the intersection of good and evil. " Within moments, Patrolman Christopher Matlosz, 27, was mortally wounded, shot three times at close range. Just over 38 hours later, a SWAT team arrested Jahmell Crockam, 19, in the bedroom of a Camden apartment, where authorities say he had fled after the killing.

In the half-century that David Friedland has been alive, he has captured headlines as a rising star in the New Jersey state Senate, as an accomplished attorney and as a convicted felon. Nothing he has done, though, can top the scuba-diving death he faked in the Bahamas three years ago, judging from responses of potential jurors questioned yesterday for Friedland's trial. "He swindled some money and went on a nice extended holiday and faked his death and had a good time while it lasted," said the first juror, who was excused because he said he could not be fair.

The jury selection process began yesterday in the U.S. District Court trial of Earl Stout, the former labor leader who is charged with stealing nearly $1 million from the municipal-workers' union he headed for 13 years. A pool of potential jurors filled out questionnaires, but no jurors were selected. The questionnaires sought information on the potential jurors' backgrounds and beliefs and asked whether they personally knew Stout, his three co- defendants or any of the possible witnesses in the case.

A Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury returns Monday to continue deliberating in the murder trial of West Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell. The jury of seven women and five men, which has deliberated for a total of about 51 hours since April 30, broke for the weekend at 1:30 p.m. Friday after telling court officials they were "drained. " The jurors seemed to spend much of the week tackling the murder charges against Gosnell, 72, who operated the Women's Medical Society clinic at 3801 Lancaster Ave. from 1979 to 2010 when it was closed after a federal-state drug raid.

For five weeks, the jurors have heard one witness after another tell of beheaded babies, snipped spines, and a filthy clinic. They have seen color photos of aborted fetuses - some as old as seven months, others allegedly born breathing and moving - and sat just feet an array of aged equipment from the West Philadelphia abortion clinic of Kermit Gosnell. Overcoming this pile of evidence may seem insurmountable, but that is the job defense attorney Jack McMahon begins Monday. At stake is his client's life.

  A state Supreme Court decision overturning a 2011 law that permitted counties to abolish the post of jury commissioner, an elected position that oversees jury selection, has sown confusion ahead of the fall elections. The problem: Counties that had planned to abolish the posts after the current commissioners' terms expired this year found they had no candidates filed to run for the suddenly available positions. With many counties now relying heavily on computers to manage jury selection, the legislature two years ago gave local jurisdictions the option of doing away with the position.

A panel of 12 jurors - seven women and five men - has been selected for the Philadelphia murder trial of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell. A man selected Tuesday and a woman picked Monday filled out the 12 members needed for the basic Common Pleas Court jury. But prosecution and defense lawyers and Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart will continue the selection process begun March 4 until they get six alternate jurors for a trial estimated to last up to eight weeks. Minehart said he hopes to begin testimony Monday.

After seven days of asking hundreds of potential jurors about abortion, the death penalty, and other issues, lawyers picked a jury Wednesday for the murder trial of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell. "That's it, we're going with five alternates," Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart said as the fifth alternate juror also proved to be the last prospect in the jury pool. Minehart said testimony would begin Monday. What time Monday is another question, as the judge and lawyers planned for trial security.

JURY SELECTION continued Monday in the murder trial of a Philadelphia abortion provider charged with killing a woman and seven babies. Kermit Gosnell is charged with running a rogue clinic in West Philadelphia and letting untrained staff perform late-stage abortions. The trial is expected to start this week and last nearly two months. Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Minehart is seeking six alternate jurors in addition to the 12 regular jurors. Ten jurors were chosen last week. Gosnell, 72, could face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder in the infant deaths.

Two more jurors were picked Thursday for the Philadelphia murder trial of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, bringing to 10 the total selected since Monday. One male juror selected Wednesday had to withdraw for financial reasons but the lawyers and Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart then picked two more, a man and woman. Minehart said jury selection would resume Monday and that he hoped to begin testimony Wednesday. - Joseph A. Slobodzian

Shortly after 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 18, 2010, a federal-state task force raided a rambling three-story building in West Philadelphia suspected as the source of prescription narcotics flooding the streets. The agents who went into the Women's Medical Society at 3801 Lancaster Ave. found what they were looking for - and much more. Inside were boxes of medical waste, preserved fetuses, infant feet in specimen jars, and filthy medical equipment - what prosecutors allege was evidence of Kermit Gosnell's booming abortion clinic, where late-term pregnancies were illegally and murderously ended.

As jury selection began Wednesday in the corruption trial of suspended Pennsylvania Justice Joan Orie Melvin, proponents of judicial reform proposed a constitutional amendment that would end the current system of electing appellate judges and give the governor authority to appoint them. The bill, introduced by State Sen. Anthony H. Williams (D., Phila.) and Republican State Sen. Richard Alloway, who represents Adams, York, and Franklin Counties, would end contested elections for state appellate judges, as well as members of the Supreme Court.

The trial of a priest and former parochial-school teacher charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy at a Northeast parish in the late 1990s opened this morning in Common Pleas Court, with prosecutors portraying the men as predators who shattered the boy's childhood, and caused him to turn to drugs to numb his pain. Defense attorneys told jurors that the boy, identified in a grand jury report as "Billy Doe," has told many different versions of the abuse since reporting it in 2010.