Jury Selection For Joseph Thomas Murder Trial Continues

The lengthy jury selection process that has preluded the Joseph Thomas murder will continue Monday.

Thomas is accused of raping and murdering Mentor woman Annie McSween.

Thomas' attorneys and Lake County prosecutors began whittling the jury pool from 140 people to what will ultimately be 12 jurors and four alternates on September 5.

To do so, they spent the entirety of last week meeting with potential jurors in groups of four to six in Lake County Common Pleas Judge Richard Collins Jr.'s court room.

They asked them questions to see if they could fairly serve on Thomas' jury.

On Monday, the remaining potential jurors will meet in a group as the final selection process begins. This is expected to take all of today and may last into Tuesday.

Two factors make it more difficult than usual to sit a jury for Thomas' trial.

One, Thomas faces the death penalty so attorneys must ask potential jurors about their feelings toward capital punishment. Two, McSween's murder and Thomas' arrest received substantial attention from the media.

Consequently, it is more difficult to find people who are not already familiar with the case.

In fact, Thomas's attorneys -- David Doughten and Chief Assistant Lake County Public Defender Charles Grieshammer -- filed a motion asking that his trial be held outside of Lake County for that reason.

They said the extensive media coverage of the crime and Thomas' arrest would make it difficult for him to find an impartial jury in Lake County.

However, prosecutors rebutted that their request was premature.

They argued that it would be impossible to tell if the jury pool was biased before the jury selection process has started.

Collins ultimately agreed with the prosecutors.

He said, until the jury pool is vetted, "this court cannot conclude that pretrial publicity has made obtaining a fair and impartial jury in Lake County an impossibility."

That means when the selection process is finished, if Collins cannot find a suitable jury, he may order that Thomas' trial be held elsewhere.

The crime

McSween, 49, was found murdered Nov. 26, 2010, near Mario's Lakeway Lounge on Andrews Road in Mentor-on-the-Lake. She had tended bar at Lakeway that evening and closed the bar by herself.

Her body was discovered behind a nearby house, next to the bar, at 8:39 a.m.

She had been beaten, strangled and repeatedly stabbed, Lake County Deputy Coroner Dr. Mark Komar said. She likely bled to death.

Evidence indicates the attack had been planned that night.

The phone lines at the Lakeway Lounge had been cut and one of the tires on McSween's car had been flattened.

The Mentor-on-the-Lake Police Department, along with Mentor Police Department, Crime Stoppers, FBI and Bureau of Criminal Identification, investigated the crime for nine months before a suspect was arrested.

They spoke to everyone who was at the bar that night and even offered a $30,000 reward for information that led to a suspect's conviction.

Then -- on June 7, 2011 -- Mentor-on-the-Lake Police announced they had arrested Thomas as a suspect in McSween's murder.

The suspect

Thomas, 28, of Perry Township, used to to live in Mentor-on-the-Lake, according to an arrest record from 2007.

Additionally, Robert Sylvester, a man who lives nearby Lakeway and used to be a regular patron, said he saw Thomas at the bar on several occasions.

Then Mentor-on-the-Lake Police Chief Joe Doran said he would neither confirm nor deny that Thomas was at the bar the night McSween was murdered.

Thomas previously was convicted of unrelated misdemeanor charges of criminal damaging, inciting violence, disorderly conduct and theft; but nothing in his criminal record portended a murder charge.

However, they do show that Thomas sometimes got into trouble when drinking.

Thomas was previously accused (though not convicted) of punching a pregnant teenager in the stomach.

A few days later, Thomas was accused of stealing a pen set, lottery ticket, phone and Dell laptop from cars in Leroy Township.

When a deputy asked Thomas why he stole the laptop, he replied, "I really don't know. I was drunk and it sounded good," according to his arrest report.

When Thomas was indicted in October, he was charged with rape, tampering with evidence, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and aggravated murder.