Jury Selection got underway Tuesday in the trial for Charles Christopher Logsdon who’s accused of 1st degree murder. It began Tuesday morning and the jury pool was divided into fourths with some coming at 9 a.m. Tuesday, the second group Tuesday afternoon and the final two groups will come Wednesday.
Tuesday they selected the first panel of 24 and will select another 24 on Wednesday. They will then cut that down to 12-jurors and 4-alternates.
As we told you earlier, 77-potential jurors were eliminated Monday by the two sides. They were dismissed based on the answers they gave on the questionnaires they filled out last week.
That left 169- potential jurors for the four groups and again both sides hope to have jury selection completed by the end of the day Wednesday.
Opening statements and the states case against Logsdon will begin Thursday morning. Judge Trish Rose stating that each days testimony will begin at 8:30 a.m.
Logsdon along with co-defendant Billy Craig, Jr., are charged for the killing of Jennifer Heckel on June 14, 2011. Other charges include conspiracy to commit first degree murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Logsdon is also charged with aggravated intimidation of a witness for allegedly threatening another inmate, Matthew Mounce. He apparently made comments to Mounce about the case and allegedly threatened him over any testimony he might give.
The two are alleged to have gone to a northwest Hutchinson home and shot Heckel while her son was in the home. The state calls it a case of mistaken identity. The state alleges they intended to rob Kayla Elizabeth Salyer-Rodriquez of her drugs, but went to Heckel’s home by mistake and when she didn’t have any drugs, she was killed. Logsdon is alleged to have been the actual shooter.
The trial is expected to last between 5-to-6 weeks with at least 146-state witnesses expected to be called.
Billy Craig’s trial will be held separately in front Judge Tim Chambers, after the first of the year.