ASHLAND - Jury selection in the Shawn Grate capital murder case got more intimate Friday.
After eight sessions with about 45 potential jurors at a time, groups of six answered individual questions from both sides.
Some of the questions dealt with exposure to pretrial publicity, but most pertained to feelings about the death penalty.
Three groups were called Friday, at 9 and 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
In the afternoon session, there were five men and one woman. One person at a time answered questions, while the others waited in the jury room.
They were given questionnaires they had already filled out as a reference.
Attorneys disagreed on one man in the afternoon session. He said Friday he was in favor of the death penalty, though not in every aggravated murder case.
Defense attorney Robert Whitney was not convinced. On the man's questionnaire, he said the death penalty should be imposed in all capital murder cases.
Whitney asked Ashland County Common Pleas Judge Ron Forsthoefel to excuse the man.
Michael McNamara, a special prosecutor helping the state, objected. He pointed out the man said he could follow the law and recommend imposing a life sentence if the mitigating factors outweighed the aggravating circumstances.
PHOTOS | Jury selection underway in the Shawn Grate trial
In dismissing the potential juror, Forsthoefel agreed with Whitney, saying the man's questionnaire showed an "underlying bias."
Another potential juror was asked about being on social media. The judge told people in the jury pool to avoid Facebook, Instagram, etc.
The man in question made a post on Facebook on Thursday, though it had nothing to do with the Grate case.
"I totally misunderstood that," he said, adding it wouldn't happen again.
The last juror of the day said he had not been exposed to media coverage of the case.
"I have five children," he said. "I don't really have time for TV or newspapers."
He said most of what he had heard about the case came from his wife, who has not brought up the subject since he was summoned as a potential juror.
One man who didn't make the cut said he felt a bias.
"I don't think it would serve justice for me to be on the jury," he told the judge.
Before he was dismissed, the man said he believed the death penalty wasn't being used enough.
Forsthoefel ended up keeping four of the six people in the afternoon session. They are now death-penalty certified.
The next step is for them to come back, tentatively April 23, for consideration for the final jury.
Groups of six will continue to be called for most if not all of next week.
mcaudill@gannett.com
