The trial of The People versus Ernesto Botello finished jury selection this afternoon, and the trial itself will begin Tuesday, April 17. The charge brought by SB County aganst Botello is vehicular manslaughter in the death of Jake Boysel, the 12-year old bicyclist hit last September. The trial judge Clifford Anderson, defense attorney Neil Levinson, & prosecuting attorney Ali Neufer asked numerous questions to prosective jurors from a jury pool of 100, & many were dismissed for one reason or another. One of the dismissed women stated that she used to bike with her 12-year old son to school, but stopped after the Boysel death; she was excused from duty. Reporters from at least the SB News-Press & SB Newsroom attended today. The jury of 12 individuals, 6 men & 6 women, plus 3 alternates were selected by 5:00 today. Their average age seemed to be about 40 years old. What impressed me today was the extent with which the legal system in our democracy goes to obtain a fair, unprejudiced trial. Judge Andeson stressed that individual jurors may agree or disagree with the law, but they have to set aside their individual emotions & experiences in consideration of guilt or innocence of Botello. Tuesday morning will begin with opening statements by the prosecution, describing what evidence they will present in the trial. The defense may or may not offer opening statements. Then the prosecution will proceed with their case, followed by the defense, closing statements by both sides, then jury deliberation. If the jury deems Botello guilty, the judge will administer a sentence on the defendent. Expected trial dates this week are: Tuesday, 10:00 AM-4:30 PM Wednesday 8:30 AM-12:00 noon Thursday, 10:00 AM-4:30 PM Friday-Saturday, nothing All are in Room 10 in the Courthouse Annex building at 118 East Figueroa Street, Santa Barbara. The trial will continue into next week. ~~ Ralph Fertig, President ~~ Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition ~~ www.

This content is restricted to site members. If you are an existing user, please login. New users may register below.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 at 12:47 am and is filed under Archive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.