Jury questioning opens for 3rd escapee's trial
Posted on 03/21/2002 4:55:04 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Jury questioning opens for 3rd escapee's trial
County known for conservative panels is challenge for defense
03/21/2002
MOUNT VERNON, Texas - Franklin County's old courthouse on the town square sees an average of five felony trials a year. During the most recent one, jurors sentenced the defendant to life in prison for felony DWI.
It was amid this conservative atmosphere Wednesday that escapee Michael Rodriguez's attorneys began looking for jurors who can keep an open mind and consider a life sentence for a man accused of breaking out of prison and killing an Irving police officer.
Lawyers who practice in Franklin County say prosecutors should have an easier ride during individual jury questioning for the death-penalty trial.
Jury selection is expected to last at least three weeks, or until 12 panel members and two alternates are seated.
Initial jury selection began March 1 after Mr. Rodriguez's defense attorneys, hired by an anti-death penalty group they won't identify, won their bid to move his capital murder trial from Dallas because of extensive publicity. Franklin County, with a population of about 10,000, is 100 miles northeast of Dallas.
"Juries in Franklin County are very conservative and normally give harsh penalties," said Sulphur Springs lawyer Ron Fergurson, who spent two years as a prosecutor here before turning to defense work six years ago. "I'd expect it to be a pretty hard trial for the defense attorneys" in Mr. Rodriguez's case.
The man whose felony DWI trial culminated last month had been charged as a habitual offender and faced an increased sentencing range of 25 years to life because of two previous trips to prison, officials said.
"He obviously had the prior DWIs, but he also had an intoxication manslaughter conviction, which would bring in a lot more punishment issues for the jury to consider for another DWI conviction," said Franklin County District Attorney Frank Long.
The prosecutor said the other recent Franklin County felony trials involved sex crimes.
"We've been pretty lucky over the last couple years that we haven't had murders in Franklin or Delta counties," said Mr. Long, whose office prosecutes crimes committed in three counties, including Hopkins County. "We have tried two capital murder trials [recently] in Hopkins County."
Testimony is scheduled to begin April 29 in Mr. Rodriguez's trial.
Mr. Rodriguez is the third of six surviving Texas prison escapees to stand trial in the Christmas Eve 2000 slaying of Officer Aubrey Hawkins, who interrupted the group's armed robbery of Oshman's SuperSports USA.
Dallas County juries convicted and sentenced to death the first two escapees to stand trial, leader George Rivas and Donald Keith Newbury.
Mr. Rodriguez's father, Raul Rodriguez, is awaiting trial after his indictment in August on charges that he provided the getaway vehicle that the convicts used after their escape from the maximum-security Connally Prison Unit in South Texas. His suspected accomplice, family friend Patsy Gomez, has pleaded guilty and received probation with the agreement that she testify against Raul Rodriguez.
On Wednesday, jury selection for Michael Rodriguez's trial moved quickly, with attorneys agreeing to seat one juror and agreeing that another was qualified.
The first two prospective panel members were disqualified early in the day after they questioned the need for the trial, saying they'd already formed the opinion that he's guilty. One juror said the trial would be a waste of time and money.
"I do feel like he's guilty; he shouldn't have been out of prison in the first place," the other disqualified juror said, adding that her cousin served as one of Officer Hawkins' pallbearers.
Mr. Fergurson said he would advise attorneys involved in Mr. Rodriguez's trial to be straightforward with jurors and avoid slick lawyer games.
"Most of these people [potential jurors] are good, honest, hardworking people, but that doesn't mean they're stupid," he said. "Franklin County has a very good school system, one of the better school systems in the state. Just because they're living out in the country doesn't mean they're uneducated.
"They're going to make a decision based on the facts."
E-mail hbecka@dallasnews.com
"Juries in Franklin County are very conservative and normally give harsh penalties," said Sulphur Springs lawyer Ron Fergurson, who spent two years as a prosecutor here before turning to defense work six years ago. "I'd expect it to be a pretty hard trial for the defense attorneys" in Mr. Rodriguez's case.
Why not go for the whole hog and find jurors "open minded" enough to give this poor lad his walking papers?
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