Jury pool big enough second time around
By BARRY HALVORSON news@leader-news.com

A little extra insurance there would be a jury this time was introduced to the jury pool Monday for the felony murder trial of Guillermo Paniagua Paniagua.

While a total of 325 jury notices were sent out, only 120 people arrived at the Wharton County Civic Center for the selection process Monday. The building was chosen because of the extra heavy call, which under normal circumstances is around 250 to 275 people.

After 30 people either used their legal exemptions or were excused by the judge, the pool was knocked down to 90. Legal exemptions include being over the age of 70, being caregiver to a person age 10 or under, or having a felony conviction or any conviction for a theft offense.

To make up the difference, the remainder of a jury pool for a civil trial was sent to the Civic Center and the voir dire process, the questioning of potential jurors, began.

"We finished a little after 6 p.m.," District Attorney spokesperson Becky Ivy said. "Actually, it went pretty smoothly once we got the final pool established after the addition from Judge Clapp's court bumped the numbers up over 100."

Assistant District Attorney Gordon Dudley said the attorneys went through 47 names before the final number of 13 - 12 jurors and an alternate - was selected. But he added the extra numbers were important.

"This was a different situation in that a lot of the people at the end of the list were striking themselves because of prior opinions," he said.

Paniagua's trial was initially set for Oct. 29, but of the 250 called for that jury, only 71 showed up and after exemptions and court approved excuses, only 26 candidates were left, not enough to seat a jury.

Defense attorneys then requested a change of venue on the basis of pre-trial publicity, which they attributed to the jury selection problems. After initially agreeing to move the trial, Judge Daniel Sklar reversed his decision and allowed it to remain in Wharton.