Jury Selection In Dagenais Trial Complete
Monday, February 23, 2009 at 15:07
Jury selection is now finished in the trial of a Saskatchewan man accused of gunning down two Mounties near Spiritwood in the summer of 2006.
A jury of six men and six women has been chosen to hear the case.
Justice Gerry Albright spent roughly an hour this morning going over jury selection guidelines for the lawyers involved in the first degree murder trial of Curtis Dagenais.
Albright made a distinction between being exposed to media coverage of the case and being influenced by it, saying potential jurors may have been following the case without forming an opinion on it.
Aside from being asked whether they may be biased, jurors were also questioned if they had made any donations to memorialize the victims or bought any memorabilia to commemorate the victims.
Dagenais is accused of killing Cst. Robin Cameron of the Beardy’s/Okemasis First Nation and fellow officer Cst. Marc Bourdages.
Both died in hospital a few days after the shooting, and Dagenais was eventually arrested after an 11-day manhunt.
The jury trial was originally set for North Battleford, but Dagenais’ lawyer applied for and received a change of venue.
The trial is set to run three weeks, with testimony beginning tomorrow.