KALAMAZOO (WKZO AM/FM) — Two days of closed interviews with prospective jurors has resulted in the elemination of half the 200 people in the jury pool.
They will try to get down to 14 jurors on Monday in open session. What they call voir dire. Opening arguments are tentatively set for Tuesday.
The Defense Attorney for Jason Dalton says he cannot use an insanity defense, because an independent psychiatric exam found his client knew right from wrong on the night he allegedly shot 8 people across Kalamazoo.
Attorney Eusebio Solis says that means pleading insanity is not an option, and he will withdraw the plea. That could reduce the number of witnesses and shorten the trial, which had orginally been scheduled to last two weeks.
Prosecutor Jeff Getting says he is ready for whatever the defense strategy turns out to be.
Dalton’s claims made to detectives that a demon inside his Uber Ap had taken control of his mind has been tossed by the courts because Dalton’s Miranda rights were violated.
(copy written by John McNeill)
