The first round of jury selection for the Luis Aguirre capital murder trial took place on Tuesday morning at the Riley County Courthouse in Manhattan.
Aguirre is charged with the murders of 18-year-old Tanya Maldanado and her 15 -month-old son Juan in September of 2009.
18 potential jurors faced questions from prosecutors and defense attorneys to ascertain their positions on issues such as the death penalty, and availability for the trial dates.
During the extensive questions and answer session Assistant county attorney Barry Disney told the potential jurors that the vetting process is a lot like applying for a job that you don’t want.
The selection process will continue through the week until 42 jurors have been selected. At that time prosecutors and defense attorneys will be able to strike 14 of the candidates each, and finally reach the 14 jurors necessary for the trial. The final count will be 12 jurors and 2 alternates.
The Aguirre trial is scheduled to begin on the June 18th, and is the 1st capital murder trial to take place in Riley county after the reinstatement of the Kansas death penalty.
