WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - Attorneys for a federal prison inmate charged in the killing of a guard say potential jurors shouldn’t be excluded from hearing the case simply because they have strong feelings against the death penalty.
Forty-year-old Jessie Con-ui is scheduled for trial next month in the February 2013 stabbing death of corrections officer Eric Williams at the Canaan federal prison in Waymart. Prosecutors allege that he was angry about a search of his cell.
The (Wilkes-Barre) Citizens’ Voice (https://bit.ly/2mumqcF ) reports that defense attorneys say case law only supports barring jurors if it is clear that they would vote against capital punishment regardless of the evidence.
Con-ui is serving 25 years to life for a 2002 gang initiation murder in Arizona. Prosecutors didn’t immediately respond to Tuesday’s defense filing.
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Information from: The Citizens’ Voice, https://www.citizensvoice.com
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