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Judge says no to expert for Neil Entwsitle murder trial
A JUDGE has refused a request to provide money to pay for a jury selection expert for Neil Entwistle's murder trial.
Middlesex Superior Court judge Diane Kottmyer decided that Entwistle's lawyers did not prove they needed money to hire the expert.
The motion was filed by Entwistle's lawyers, Elliot Weinstein and Stephanie Page. In her reply, judge Kottmyer said there was no justifiable reason to supply the funds to the defence team.
"Counsel cite no case in which a motion for funds has been allowed to retain experts to assist in the selection of a jury,'' she said in her decision. "They argue that it is essential to develop a questionnaire to 'help identify overt, subtle and hidden bias of prospective jurors.' They point out that the present case has received extensive local, national and international publicity.''
"But many criminal cases receive substantial publicity in the location in which the events leading to the charges took place,'' she said. "In most of these cases, that is the same geographical area from which jurors are selected.''
Kottmyer said it is the court's job to make sure jurors follow instructions about disregarding pre-trial and trial publicity.
Entwistle, 29, is accused of killing his wife, Rachel, 27, and nine-month-old daughter, Lillian Rose, on 20th January 2006 in the bedroom of their rented home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.
He is being held without bail at the Middlesex Jail in Cambridge, America. His trial is scheduled to start on 2nd June.
Authorities say he killed his wife and daughter with a gun he stole from his in-laws' home. They say he then returned the gun and flew to England, returning to his parents' Worksop home.
He was later arrested and extradited to Massachusetts to face trial. Entwistle is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and the illegal possession of a firearm, all of which he denies. If convicted, he faces a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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