Jury selection at the trial of Kevin Monahan, the man accused of fatally shooting Kaylin Gillis in his driveway last spring, came to a close Wednesday.
After three days, a pool of 500 potential jurors was narrowed to just under 120 Wednesday morning, and by 4 p.m. 12 jurors and four alternates had been chosen.
The high-profile trial centers on the April 15th fatal shooting of the 20-year-old Schuylerville woman. The case made national news and was nearly impossible to avoid in the surrounding community – part of the reasoning behind Judge Adam Michelini’s move to call so many potential jurors.
Many were dismissed for simple reasons like previous interactions with and impressions of law enforcement and the criminal justice system, or their proximity to individuals involved in the case.
Speaking to reporters after court Wednesday, defense attorney Art Frost said he’s confident that his 66-year-old Hebron client can get a fair trial.
“There’s always a fear when there’s been so much publicity that you can’t but with this jury, I think they’ve been vetted well, I appreciate the way the judge has handled things, and I think we’ll get a fair trial, we’re looking forward to it,” said Frost.
Wednesday’s proceedings featured are formal Voire Dire process, where the prosecution and defense teams were able to speak to 21 potential jurors at a time to gauge how they may serve.
Before the lawyers got to ask them any questions, Michelini had the jurors enter into the record details like their educational background, any previous experiences as a juror, or whether they had any sort of relationship with anyone in law enforcement.
1st Assistant District Attorney Chris Morris is the lead prosecutor, and he ran through a handful of hypotheticals with the potential jurors.
Morris clarified that he only needed to clear the burden of reasonable doubt, and wanted to make sure that no jurors would make him present an “absolute” case.
“So, by doing it one at a time, one of the things you do is you protect the entire pool, right? Because you don’t want someone to say something that might prejudice other people,” Washington County District Attorney Tony Jordan said. “And then the other part is, what we really want are jurors to be really honest when they’re answering those questions, and individually going through those without being on the panel, as you watched today when you’re in the box with 21, it really helps to have an open dialogue and come up with people that truly can be unbiased and fair and impartial which is ultimately the goal."
Morris also asked whether the potential jurors would be able to determine the mindset or intentions of a person based on surrounding circumstances, not their literal thoughts.
Defense attorneys Frost and Kurt Mausert focused many of their initial questions around the presumption of innocence. Frost asked potential jurors to look at his client and honestly say whether they could determine he is innocent of second-degree murder and other charges without having heard any evidence from the trial.
All jurors who were eventually selected had promised that they would not come to a decision on Monahan’s innocence until presented all of the facts of the case.
Frost also asked potential jurors if they knew what it was like to be “truly afraid.” The defense’s strategy will likely revolve around Monahan’s state of mind the night of the shooting. They will claim that he feared for his life as several vehicles entered his driveway.
The defense team also questioned potential jurors on their beliefs about gun ownership; Frost asked jurors where they fall in a range of an expansive 2nd Amendment to very limited ownership.
The defense team excluded several jurors due to their hesitation when asked whether they would hold it against Monahan if he does not end up testifying.
The trial is expected to go through the end of January.
