Hundreds to report for murder trial

By BOB HIGH

The parking areas at or near the Columbus County Courthouse will be extremely crowded Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 13-14, as Superior Court Judge Jack Hooks Jr. expects at least 300 jurors to report to begin the selection process to serve in a high-profile Brunswick County murder case.

These 300-plus jurors will be parking uptown in addition to the regular list of defendants, witnesses and victims who will report to sessions of District Court the same two days.

“It’s going to be crowded, but we can handle it. There might be some inconvenience for some people, but I certainly hope it will be a minimum,” the judge noted.

“We sent out 600 summons, and obviously we don’t expect that many people to show up, but I expect we’ll have over 300 citizens here during the two days,” Hooks said.

Two hundred jurors are summoned to report at 9 a.m. Monday, Feb. 13, another 200 are scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14, and the final 200 are to report at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. Hooks said there should be no overlap of the groups of jurors reporting and leaving.

The jurors are being selected here to hear the death-penalty murder case of Darrell Wayne Maness, 20, of Burlington, accused of shooting to death James Mitchell Prince – a Boiling Spring Lakes police officer – in January 2005.

Hooks said there would be 15 jurors selected – a number that includes three alternates – and they would be bused from Columbus County each day to the Brunswick County Courthouse near Bolivia to hear the case.

“I’m going to get them to fill out questionnaires about their life history and if they’ve served as a juror before or been involved in civil or criminal cases here or other counties, and then I’m going to send them home,” the local judge added.

Placed in panels

“I’m going to divide them into panels. The first group will have 24 in it and all the others will have 12 people per panel. We’ll call the first 24 for the week of Feb. 20 and begin selecting a jury, and there should be at least a half day’s notice before each of the other panels are to report,” Hooks pointed out.

Hooks said he feels he can handle each large juror group within two to three hours.

Formal questioning of the first panel begins Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 9:30 a.m. Michael Ramos of Shallotte, plus Wilmington attorneys Kevin Peters and Richard Miller will handle Maness’ defense. District Attorney Rex Gore and assistant DAs Lee Bollinger and Chris Gentry will prosecute for the state.

A special session is set for 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 10, for Hooks to hear from jurors who wish to be excused for a variety of reasons. “I’ll handle them one at a time on Feb. 10, regardless of the excuse they give me.”

Hooks said he and three defense attorneys and three prosecutors will orient the jurors as each group reports. “I’m giving them written copies of all the introductory remarks I make and instructions about their subsequent behavior.”

The judge said he would stress the standard precautions about talking to anyone about the case, even if they haven’t been examined as a juror, plus requirements that the jurors should not read or listen to TV and radio reports about the case. “And, I want to make sure all of them understand how important these warnings are,” he added.

Two to three weeks

Hooks said he expected the selection of a jury to take between two to three weeks, and he said the trial should consume another 10 to 15 workdays.

Brunswick County Sheriff Ron Hewett is sending some deputies as bailiffs to help handle the jury-selection sessions here, and they will be augmented by bailiffs from Columbus County Sheriff Chris Batten’s staff.

“I couldn’t have asked for better cooperation from Chris Batten or Ron Hewett. Both of them have been right on top of this situation from the beginning,” Hooks said.

“This is an example of the good working relationship I and my department have with Sheriff Hewett,” Batten commented. “There’s going to be a crowd of people, but all of it will work out easily. All the possible problems have been addressed and we’ve got things in place to work with the jurors, the attorneys and Judge Hooks.”

All Columbus County attorneys were furnished copies of the 600 names summoned as jurors and asked by the defense team for information on jurors known to them.