Jury Selection

Jury selection is set to begin Monday in the second animal-cruelty trial of Travers and Tremayne Johnson, twin brothers accused of setting fire to a pit bull in 2009. Their first trial was held in February and ended in a hung jury after three days of deliberation, with 11 members voting to convict and a single holdout saying she was unsure of the brothers' guilt. They're accused of dousing a young female pit bull in accelerant in May 2009, setting her alight and leaving her for dead on a West Baltimore street.

Jury selection in the federal bribery and extortion trial of Maryland Sen. Ulysses Currie and two Shoppers Food Warehouse executives opened Monday with the judge reading aloud a who's who in state politics. Gov. Martin O'Malley, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. and former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. are among the more than two dozen former and current state leaders who are either likely to be mentioned during the lengthy trial or called to testify, according to U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett.

As the jury selection process began in the bribery trial of state Sen. Ulysses S. Currie, the names of potential jurors were removed from their questionnaires before the forms were returned to lawyers. The redacting was done at the request of federal prosecutors — but not for the jurors' safety. It was meant to keep defense lawyers from Googling them before the trial, which is set to begin next week. If that happened, the court's "supervisory control over the jury selection process would, as a practical matter, be obliterated," prosecutors wrote in a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Richard D. Bennett.

Jurors are expected to resume deliberation Wednesday in the case of two brothers accused of carrying out the contract killing of a mentally disabled man on behalf of a Baltimore pastor who planned to cash in $1.4 million in fraudulent insurance policies. James Omar Clea III, 33, and Kareem Jamal Clea, 28, are charged with conspiracy in the murder of a 37-year-old group home resident who was shot in the head and left for dead in a Leakin Park bathroom more than 21/2 years ago. Kareem is also charged with pulling the trigger.

Jury selection began Monday in the trial of John A. Wagner, a 34-year-old city man accused of killing a Johns Hopkins researcher last year. Wagner is charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of 23-year-old Stephen Pitcairn, who police say was robbed at knifepoint as he walked from Penn Station to his home in Charles Village the night of July 25, 2010. The killing angered the city and became a campaign issue in the race for city state's attorney. Baltimore Circuit Judge Charles J. Peters told the jury pool of 130 that he anticipated an eight-day trial that would end about Aug. 17. Choosing a jury proved challenging: More than 80 of those called Monday said they could not serve for that length of time.

Regarding the Casey Anthony case, the truth is hardly ever decided by courtroom antics played out for the camera. This was not about the truth. This was about obfuscation and casting doubt. The defense did a good job of that. The prosecution overreached. The jury was not ready to convict a woman for her sociopathic behavior. They didn't have to buy the abuse story to set her free. The burden of proof was on the prosecution, and the prosecution floundered because it didn't know how Caylee died.

The murder trial of Cleaven L. Williams Jr. — who's accused of fatally stabbing his pregnant wife outside a Baltimore courthouse in 2008 — began Friday morning with attorneys arguing whether the autopsy photos could be shown to jurors. Veronica L. Williams was stabbed seven times in her face and neck, and the images taken by the medical examiner are described as graphic, showing wounds stretched wide to measure their depth. "They're very shocking," said defense attorney Melissa Phinn.

Baltimore City courts closed Thursday because of the overnight snowstorm, postponing the start of the trial for two teenagers accused of setting a pit bull puppy on fire. Opening statements had been scheduled to begin Thursday afternoon. A jury of seven women and five men, plus three alternate jurors, was chosen from among 90 potential jurors in a process that took almost all day Wednesday. The biggest issue for jurors will not be whether the puppy, which had to be euthanized, was severely burned.

Jury selection and more pretrial motions are expected to take most – if not all – of Wednesday when the prosecution of Travers and Tremaine Johnson, twins charged with animal cruelty, resumes in a Baltimore courtroom. Much of Monday was taken up with motions on what evidence and testimony jurors will be allowed to consider. Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lawrence P. Fletcher-Hill ruled that a woman who identified the brothers to police can testify. In addition, prosecutors may use a statement by Travers Johnson to police as well as a city surveillance video.

The prosecution of Travers and Tremayne Johnson, both charged with animal cruelty, will resume Monday morning with pretrial motions, followed by jury selection. The schedule was set back six hours Friday because a jury deliberating in a separate case needed access to the courtroom and Travers Johnson, who is in custody on unrelated attempted-murder charges, was not transported to court in time. The brothers are accused of dousing a pit bull puppy with gasoline in 2009, then setting it on fire.