The Huntsville Item, Huntsville, TX

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October 27, 2009

Jury selection enters fourth week in trial

By Jay Ermis



The process of selecting a jury in the trial of a Texas Department of Criminal Justice offender entered its fourth week Monday in Centerville and is expected to go into the first week of November.

Jerry Duane Martin is charged with the death of TDCJ officer Susan Canfield, who was killed when Martin and fellow inmate John Ray Falk Jr. escaped from the Wynne Unit off Farm-to-Market Road 2821 on Sept. 24, 2007.

State District Court Judge Kenneth Keeling of the 278th Judicial District will try the case.

Falk’s trial has not been scheduled.

Walker County Criminal District Attorney David Weeks said Martin’s trial is being held in Leon County due to complications involving other sites.

Weeks said they called in their third panel of potential jurors Monday and they were scheduled to fill out questionnaires and see who qualifies.

Weeks said in the neighborhood of 250 to 350 people were summoned for jury duty with 100 showing up for the first and second panels.

He said around 82 people filled out questionnaires in both instances.

Through Monday, 29 people have qualified to serve on the jury.

Weeks said they want 46 to 50 people qualified and both sides will select the jury from those 50.

He expects the jury selection to extend into the first week of November.

“We will qualify close to 50 people,” he said. “Once we have that many people, we will go through the list starting with the first juror.

“The prosecution gets to accept or reject. If we accept, then the choice goes to the defense. We each get 15 preemptor strikes we can use anyway we want.

“As we go through the process, we will certainly pick alternates, but we haven’t decided how many at this point. We will use the preemptor to go through that process and that is when the jury will be finalized.”

Weeks has said the principal question is whether or not Canfield’s death qualifies as capital murder.

“This is a difficult case,” he said. “The situation is very unique because Ms. Canfield died as the result of being thrown off a horse, so there are issues there that are different than most.

“I feel very confident, but it’s going to be up to the jury. I believe it’s capital murder, but the jury’s going to have the final word on that.”

Weeks said that if Martin is found guilty, jurors will have the option of recommending the death penalty.

Martin and Falk were indicted in March 2008 in the murder of Canfield.

The charge was elevated to capital murder due to provisions in the Texas State Penal Code that allow a murder to be upgraded to capital if it occurs during an attempted escape from a penal institution.

At the time of their escape, Martin was in the 10th year of a 50-year term for attempted murder, while Falk was serving a life sentence for a 1986 murder.

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