A seven-man, five-woman jury was selected Sunday afternoon for the murder trial of St. Marys physician Noel Chua.
The trial will begin at 9 a.m. today at the Glynn County courthouse.
Jurors were sequestered minutes after they were picked Sunday will remain sequestered in Brunswick for duration of the trial the trial. Lawyers in the case said they will present all their evidence in five days.
As soon as the jury was picked, defense lawyer Donald Samuel objected saying prosecutors had struck most of the African-Americans in the pool and that the jury was not representative. Samuel said it appeared the strikes were based on race.
Assistant District Attorney Jackie Johnson went down the list of all the jurors she and District Attorney Stephen Kelley had struck, black and white. Those struck had indicated they were close friends of Sheriff Bill Smith, had friends for relatives working at the Camden County Sheriff's Office or had had some family member prosecuted by the District Attorney's Office, Johnson said.
A potential jury's grandmother had been Smith's nanny, Johnson said.
"I think maybe the state didn't have enough strikes," Superior Court Judge Amanda Williams said in answering Samuel's objection.
Williams found the prosecutor's strikes were "race neutral,'' and said, "I am absolutely satisfied with the strikes,'' she said.
Chua himself is a close friend of Smith. The sheriff has said he believes Chua is innocent and has given Chua special treatment in the Camden County jail where he has been held since his September, 2006, arrest.
Smith traveled to China with Chua in spring, 2006, to look for alternative treatments for Smith's son, Blake, who is paralyzed from an auto accident.
The trial will include a number of experts on physician's practices and medical ethics.
Williams has ordered that Camden County deputies transport Chua to the Glynn County Detention Center daily in an inmate uniform. Only after he is in custody of Glynn deputies will he be allowed to change into the personal clothing for the trial. And he must change back to an inmate uniform before being returned to the custody of Camden officers, Williams ordered.
During the trial, Williams ordered that Chua be served the same meals as other Glynn County inmates "and no other."
-- Terry Dickson and Paul Pinkham
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9 comments:
I do hope that we will get "unbiased" daily updates on this trial. I support Dr. Chua and do not believe he has been treat fairly with the Times Union reporting.
Finally the day has come. I look forward to the truth coming out so that all of the rumors can be put to rest. I will be watching for frequent updates.
I don't understand what has happened to our attitude towards criminal cases. Did the OJ case get us started on the idea that when someone is charged with a crime, we should pick a side? For most of my lifetime, people were willing to wait, and let the truth come out at the trial. Now, people seem to be comfortable saying they have made up their minds before the trial even begins. It is one thing to say that a defendant is a wonderful person who has done many good things. But does that guarantee that they will never commit a crime? Folks, the jury will hear the evidence, and make the right decision, whatever that is, based on the evidence. Be happy that we live in a country where cases do not get decided by who is "supporting" one side or the other.
What was overlooked in this blog is the fact that the District Attorney provided Mr. Carter's family with a daily list of the jurors that would be interviewed on that day - personal information on the potential jurors was also made available to them. One potential juror was contacted by a member of the family and the Judge immediately dismissed that juror -I was in the court room when the Judge lambasted the District Attorney for violating her orders to have a "sealed list". Wonder why that fact never made it to this blog...or any Gordon Jackson article. Seems one sided to me! I pray the jury is an impartial one! Every Gordon Jackson article to date has been biased toward the prosecution and only the details favoring a guilty verdict have been printed.
Unless you have lost a child, you can't understand what this family is going thru. Jamie was wrong for doing what he did, but as the adult and the so called doctor he inabled this to happen. A doctor knows when a patient (or his room mate) is in trouble and should have quit writing prescriptions for him........
Dr.Chua did nothing wrong.He should be free.Iam praying for u.dont give up.we are here for u.belive that.
I support u 100 present,dont u giIve up.God is with u.It will be over soon.It will be all good.
Dr. Chua was my Doctor and a very good one at that. I went to him for weight loss, and I will tell you in all of my 40 years of going to Doctors he was the only one that took time with me and was very strict on meds. I have also gone to Doctors in the past and said that I had back problems, and they never spent 2 minutes with me and prescribed me pain meds. Just because a doctor prescribes meds, we are the ones that actually swallow them. On the other side of this, if so many people knew this boy has drug problems why didn't they try and help him? It's easier to live with themselves every day now blaming the good dr. Dr Chua shouldn't have been the only one blamed. If it was that bad why didn't the parents do more. You do what you have to for your kids no matter what the age. They also did nothing and instead of putting any blame on themselves to get up in the morning lets once again blame the good Dr.! I also belive Dr Chua's sexual habits had a lot to do with it. No matter what people are prejudice. I bet if you get every Dr in America that practices medicine, he would have a few screw ups, if not they would not be human. If Dr. Chua made a mistake it was because the kindness of his heart. What about when the elderly couldn't afford meds, and he would pay and take them over there himself. I'm sure the DA didn't share any of that. I do belive one day justice will be served and then maybe everyone can then be in peace!!!!!!!!
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