24 Chosen as potential jurors in William Morva capital murder trial

Associated Press
Published: March 5, 2008

ABINGDON, Va. (AP) - After two days of attorney questioning, a panel of potential jurors was selected Wednesday for the capital murder trial of an escaped inmate charged with the slayings of a hospital security guard and a sheriff’s deputy in Montgomery County.
The 24 prospects were chosen after attorneys questioned nearly 40 people over two days in Washington County, where William Morva’s trial was moved when a jury could not be seated in Montgomery County.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys will each strike five members when the case resumes Thursday to narrow the pool to 12 jurors and two alternates.
Montgomery County Commonwealth’s Attorney Brad Finch has said he will seek the death penalty for Morva, and many of the prospective jurors were excused for their views on capital punishment.
Some said they could not impose the death penalty, while others said they would choose death without considering the option of life in prison without parole.
Morva is accused of overpowering a sheriff’s deputy after he was taken to a hospital in Blacksburg for treatment of an injury, then using the deputy’s pistol to kill security guard Derrick McFarland. He also is charged with killing sheriff’s Cpl. Eric Sutphin one day later on a walking trail near the Virginia Tech campus.
The Virginia Tech campus was shut down on the first day of classes in August 2006 as hundreds of officers searched for Morva.
Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs decided last fall to move the trial because many of some 70 prospects questioned had relationships with principals in the case.