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Watkinses' child murder trial begins

September 02, 2008|Fred Petke

Jury selection in the murder trial of Patrick and Joy Watkins began this morning, seeking at least a dozen who will decide whether or not the couple killed their 10-year-old daughter a year ago.

A new pool of potential jurors filed into Clark Circuit Court today as the process began.

Clark Circuit Clerk David Hunt requested approximately 220 names of potential jurors from the state for this term, 10 percent more than he normally requests for a month's circuit court service. The number of eligible, qualified jurors will be significantly less, he said, due to people not being qualified, having already been on jury duty within the last two years, or having moved out of the county. The state selects names for jury duty at random, he noted.

"If we can get 50 percent of those to an active-service jury pool, that will be good," Hunt said this morning.

Today is the first day of service for the new pool, which will go through an orientation program before actual jury selection begins, he said.

In recent months, concerns over the amount of pre-trial publicity nearly led to the case being moved to a neighboring county. In May, Judge William Jennings decided the trial would stay in Clark County, but left open the option of moving the case if there was difficulty selecting a jury to hear the evidence.

Jennings, however, retired at the end of June. Senior Judge Gary Payne, who will be presiding over the trial, has said that jury selection may be more difficult than normal because it involves the death of a child.

Hunt believes a jury could be in place by Tuesday morning, pointing to the results of a survey Jennings did with a previous jury pool concerning publicity about the case.

In May, Jennings asked 75 sitting jurors about the Watkinses' case. Of those, 56 said they believed a fair trial could take place in Clark County. Sixty-nine said they were aware of the case, but only 39 were aware of the memorial service which took place on the courthouse steps shortly before the original trial date in May.

During a previous hearing, Payne said he would conduct the bulk of the general questioning for jurors. Prosecutors and defense attorneys would be allowed to follow up with other questions. The trial itself is estimated to take two weeks to complete.

The Watkinses are charged with murder for the death of their 10-year-old daughter, Michaela, in March 2007 after a family trip to the Red River Gorge. An autopsy determined that she died of blunt force injuries to her chest. Burns were listed as a contributing factor.

Patrick Watkins and his wife Joy, Michaela's stepmother, told police that Michaela had urinated on herself and burned herself while taking a bath. They said she fell twice that night and hit her head getting out of the bathtub. The following day, they said, she was fading in and out of consciousness at the gorge.

Contact Fred Petke at fpetke@winchestersun.com.

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