Jun 5, 2008 3:00 pm US/Eastern
Jury Selected In Entwistle Trial
(AP)
A jury of eight men and eight women was seated Thursday to hear the case of a British man charged with killing his wife and infant daughter in slayings prosecutors say were motivated by financial strain and dissatisfaction with his sex life.
Opening statements were scheduled for Friday morning in the case of Neil Entwistle, 29, who is accused of fatally shooting his 27-year-old wife, Rachel, and 9-month-old daughter, Lillian Rose, in their Hopkinton home in January 2006.
Watch Friday's opening statements live on wbztv.com.The panel of jurors, including four alternates, was selected after four days of questioning marked by complaints from defense attorneys that the judge had not done enough to weed out those who had heard about the case or already formed an opinion.
Judge Diane Kottmyer on Friday denied a request by Entwistle's attorneys to allow the jury at some point during the trial to go to the Hopkinton home as well as the home of Rachel Entwistle's mother in Carver. Kottmyer said the layout and key locations inside both homes can be shown to the jury through photographs and video.
Defense attorney Elliot Weinstein said he wanted jurors to see the Hopkinton house to help them visualize the movement of police when they discovered the bodies in the master bedroom.
Weinstein said jurors should be allowed to go to the Carver home to see where prosecutors allege Entwistle got the .22-caliber handgun used in the killings. Prosecutors said Entwistle took the gun from his father-in-law's gun case, used it to shoot his wife and daughter in Hopkinton, then drove 50 miles to Carver and returned the gun.
Weinstein told Kottmyer he has never had a request for a view rejected in approximately 50 murder trials.
"The resistance that I'm getting here today is unique," he said.
Kottmyer said she was concerned that allowing the jury to see the home in Carver could be prejudicial because Rachel Entwistle's mother and stepfather are expected to be called as prosecution witnesses in the case and are close relatives of the two victims.
"I haven't heard anything that convinces me that a view would be helpful," she said.
The judge said the defense could renew its request during the trial if it becomes clear that seeing the two homes would be helpful to the jury.
Prosecutors allege Entwistle, from Worksop, England, killed his wife and daughter after sinking deeply into debt and becoming dissatisfied with his sex life. A search of his computer after the killings showed he researched ways to commit murder and suicide, prosecutors have said.
Entwistle told police he discovered the bodies of his wife and daughter after he returned home from doing errands on Jan. 20, 2006.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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