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Second Day of Jury Selection for Teen Accused of Killing Marcelo Lucero

Posted March 3, 2010 by Ted Hesson
Categories: Hate Watch

I wasn’t able to attend today’s jury selection in the trial of Jeffrey Conroy, the teen accused of stabbing and killing Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero, but I received some updates from a source at the trial.

As with yesterday’s jury selection, Judge Robert W. Doyle continued to question the jurors as to their fitness for duty, with immigration views disqualifying more jurors. Here are some quotes from potential jurors:

—“I have strong opinions about the lack of immigration policy,” said one potential juror who identified himself as a school bus driver. “I’m very old fashioned about it. What I have, benefits, salary, was all done legally.”

—“I’m an immigrant myself and I know how hard immigrants work and struggle,” said another potential juror.

—“My dad has a huge opinion about illegal immigrants,” another juror said. “They have become my opinions as well.”

—“Most of my clients in my job are Latino immigrants,” one juror said. “They are illegal. I don’t believe that because of that they should be killed.”

All of those jurors were excused from jury duty.

In other trial-related news, Newsday’s Sumathi Reddy also covered yesterday’s jury selection, noting that the prosecution unveiled a list of 30 witnesses who might testify in the trial. Among those on the list, Nick Hausch was the only one of the alleged attackers slated to testify, even though three other defendants have already pleaded guilty to the attack on Lucero, and hypothetically would cooperate with the prosecution. Says Reddy:

Assistant District Attorney Megan O’Donnell said that doesn’t mean prosecutors won’t call other defendants to testify. But experts say that remains unlikely if they weren’t named Tuesday. “It’s always potentially problematic when you have more than one person giving an account of the same event,” said Eugene O’Donnell, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “Less is definitely more.”

Tags : hate crimes, jeffrey conroy, marcelo lucero

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