A jury has been seated to hear the quadruple murder trial of Wesley Jonathan Williams.
Around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, 12 jurors and three alternates were chosen, closing out a full two-day selection process.
The panel is made up of one black male, two black females, four white females and eight white males.
The trial begins at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.
In an unusual turn of events in the court of Circuit Judge Bill Wright, jurors will be allowed to take notes during what will likely be a two week trial with more than 40 witnesses called, according to the lawyers as they spoke to prospective jurors.
Williams is accused of shooting to death his ex-girlfriend Danielle Baker, and of suffocating her three young sons, two of which he fathered.
The jury selection process yielded some e hints about what may lie ahead in his trial.
Potential jurors were asked whether they could deal with possibly seeing things that could be disturbing, including crime scene and autopsy photos of the dead children who had been doused with a chemical that left burns on their skin.
Many prospective jurors were dismissed after having said they didn’t think they could.
Starting with an unusually large jury pool of about 200, the lawyers first questioned them in batches of about 50, then pared them down to smaller and smaller groups, based in part on their answers to a variety of questions.
Some, for instance, were dismissed after saying they did not believe in the death penalty.
Although the jury will not be called upon to recommend a sentence if Williams is convicted, death is a possible penalty Judge Wright could impose.
Defense attorney Walter Smith and prosecutor Larry Basford also warned jurors they would be hearing testimony about complicated scientific matters, including mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, firearms evidence, and the finer points of cell phone communication systems.
Both warned potential jurors to expect a long trial that would demand their full attention.
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