After three days of interviews with prospective jurors, a jury has been seated in the case of a Hoonah man accused of killing two police officers. Fourteen men and women will hear the case of State of Alaska vs. John N. Marvin, Jr.
Marvin was arrested in late August 2010 after he allegedly shot Matt Tokuoka and Tony Wallace and then held other officers in a stand-off for about a day.
After three previous hearings to determine whether Marvin was mentally capable to assist his attorney with his defense at trial, jury selection officially started on Monday with 255 Juneau residents initially asked to report for jury duty. Of that, ninety potential jurors survived two long days of individual interviews about pre-trial media coverage and potential bias.
Based on comments made by prospective jurors, public defender Eric Hedland made a motion on Wednesday to change the venue or move the trial out of Juneau. But Superior Court Judge David George denied the motion, paving the way for peremptory challenges of potential jurors. Both the prosecution and defense took turns dismissing those who they thought would not be a good fit for the jury. Unlike an earlier round of juror disqualifications-for-cause, attorneys did not have to specify why each person was being let go.
Check out KTOO’s live blog of Wednesday’s events here.
Opening arguments are scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday morning.
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