Jury selection is expected to take a week or more in LeFlore County District Court in the first-degree murder trial of Elvis Aaron Thacker, District Attorney Jeff Smith said Friday. The trial could last up to a month.
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The trial in Oklahoma has been on hold to allow Thacker to recover from gunshot wounds he suffered when he was arrested in 2010, for the disposal of charges in Arkansas of kidnapping and attempted capital murder in August 2011, and for years of pre-trial maneuvering by the state and defense in his murder case in Oklahoma.
The latest delay came in January when prospective jurors showed up for jury selection only to be sent home when the prosecution and defense announced to District Judge Jonathan Sullivan that they were not ready for trial.
Smith said Friday that he expected the lengthy jury selection because the state is seeking the death penalty. The jury will have to be death-qualified, which adds another dimension to the selection process for the prosecution and defense, he said.
The trial is going to put a dent in Smith's budget, which he said is already thin because of Oklahoma's across-the-board 7 percent budget cut. But he said his office will not cut short the witness list. To save on witness fees, travel and lodging expenses, Smith said reporting dates are being staggered to get witnesses closer to the time when they will be needed to testify.
"This case is much too important," he said. "We will worry about patching the holes [in the budget] on the back side."
