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Circuit Judge James L. Roberts Jr. guided the jury process throughout the day Tuesday at the Lee County Justice Center. He said the trial is likely to last at least this week.
A 100-person jury pool answered roll, with final winnowing questions from the judge and attorneys yielding a 59-person panel from which 12 jurors and three alternates will be chosen.
Ward, who maintains his innocence, was indicted in the 2010 shooting death of 20-year-old Itawamba Community College student Anna Catherine McCoy.
From jury-pool questions by his attorney, Victor Fleitas of Tupelo, it's clear the defense will seek to convince the jury that McCoy's death was a tragic accident, not murder.
Prosecutors are District Attorney Trent Kelly and his assistants, Richard Bowen and Josh Wise.
As the attorneys sought to learn about the prospective jurors, changing communication technology took center stage late Tuesday.
Fleitas spent a long time asking questions about online news readership, and use of social network sites Facebook and Twitter.
Several prospective jurors admitted they were Facebook friends with a few of the state's prospective witnesses, including Lee County Coroner Carolyn Gillentine-Green and McCoy's father, Cotton McCoy.
No possible jurors said they formed any kind of opinions about the case from what they'd read on the Internet, watched on TV or read in the Daily Journal.
Months ago, Fleitas asked the court to move the trial out of Lee County because, he said, of extensive pretrial publicity.
Names of possible witnesses were read by Roberts to determine if anyone in the jury pool knew any of them or were related in some way. Generally, the answers were no.
But in reading out the names, Roberts revealed that controversial medical examiner Dr. Steven Hayne will be among them, as well as both of McCoy's parents and an expert from the National Center for Physical Acoustics at the University of Mississippi, which studies sound.
Among the unusual responses from prospective jurors was from a woman, who said she served last year on a jury drawn from Lee County for a trial in Lafayette County, and that the experience was so emotional for her that she couldn't sleep for a while. She agreed she likely wouldn't be a good juror this time.
patsy.brumfield@journalinc.com
You, sir, appear to be the know-it-all. As another poster suggested, if you know so much more about the legal community than us average joes, then please post your qualifications and why we should value your opinion over any other?
You have attacked me on this forum before. However, your attacks only consist of juvenile name calling, supposition and inuendo. Back up your facts and quit acting like a 10 year old, or else stay on the porch.
If you are some hot shot lawyer or judge, please let us know so that we will understand the source of your expert inside information on the legal system.
I have never heard of this Mr. Flautas either and I have lived around here for a very long time.
Jim Waide was Tyler Edmonds lawyer as far as I can recall. I never heard of Flautas being involved in that famous case. Honestly, it sounds like a little name dropping to me.
It is a shame that justice is bought and sold in our legal system, but it is. Those that have money can get the best lawyers and will normally get off scott free. On the other hand, those that do not have money get stuck with no-name, overworked pubic defenders and will usually pay the price in the end. How is that fair?
For instance, if this guy would have had the money to hire a Tony Farese or a Jimmy Doug Shelton, he would probably beat this rap in no time flat. But from what I have read so far, his goose may be cooked. DA Kelly and his staff make a formidible team.
This is a very sad case. I hope that somehow justice prevails and all of these families can find closure in the end.