ASHLAND - The end is in sight for jury selection in the Shawn Grate capital murder case.
Ashland County Common Pleas Judge Ron Forsthoefel said Monday on the sixth day of the trial that his goal is to seat the jury and have opening statements next Monday.
Meanwhile, groups of six or seven potential jurors continued answering questions from both sides, mainly about their feelings on the death penalty.
In the afternoon session, seven people in the jury pool said they were not exposed to pretrial publicity.
The first of the group, a woman, seemed unsure about her views on the death penalty. On a questionnaire, she said the death penalty should be imposed in all capital murder cases.
She seemed to waffle on that opinion upon questioning from Michael McNamara, a special prosecutor assisting the state in this case.
Defense attorney Robert Whitney asked the judge to remove the woman from jury consideration.
"After 15 or 20 minutes of talking with the prosecutor, she's of the mind that she could challenge the death penalty," Whitney said.
Forsthoefel agreed.
"I don't feel comfortable that this juror would enter the penalty phase fair and impartial," the judge said.
The next woman said she was in favor of the death penalty but didn't know if she could serve because she would need smoke breaks.
"I go 2½ or 3 hours without a cigarette at work," she said. "I'm not going to be able to concentrate. When it (urge to smoke) hits you, it's very hard to get it out of your head."
The woman said she would rather not be on the case.
"I don't want to serve, but I am here," she said.
Forsthoefel kept her in the pool after neither side wanted her removed.
The next person in the jury pool, a man, was questioned only briefly by the judge after saying he would automatically vote against the death penalty.
"I'm opposed to it," he said.
The man told Forsthoefel he could not follow the court's instructions.
"I think the death penalty is wrong," he said. "It's a religious belief, and I'm not going to abandon it."
The final four potential jurors of the day all were certified to consider the death penalty.
"I'm not going to order somebody's death without considering everything," a woman said.
PHOTOS | Jury selection underway in the Shawn Grate trial
Case background
Shawn Grate, 41, is charged with 23 counts, including aggravated murder. If convicted of that charge, he could face the death penalty.
The main charges involve the deaths of Elizabeth Griffith, 29, and Stacey Stanley, 43, and the kidnapping of a woman prosecutors are calling Jane Doe. According to a previous news release, Doe was kidnapped and raped multiple times but escaped after calling 911 on Sept. 13, 2016.
After Doe's rescue and Grate's arrest, police found the bodies of Griffith and Stanley at a house at 363 Covert Court, near downtown Ashland. According to the preliminary autopsy, both women had been strangled.
