PORT ORCHARD — A jury was chosen Wednesday for the first-degree aggravated-murder retrial of former Sequim resident Darold R. Stenson in preparation for opening arguments Monday.
A 12-person panel with three alternates, all of whom are in about their 30s to their 50s, was selected, said Port Orchard lawyer Roger Hunko, representing Stenson, 60.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge S. Brooke Taylor will consider pretrial motions beginning at 9 a.m. Monday at the Kitsap County Courthouse in Port Orchard before opening arguments, which are expected to begin at about 10:30 a.m. that day, Hunko said.
Hunko said Taylor will consider defense attorney Blake Kremer’s motion to disqualify Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly from the case because of an unpublished book manuscript written by her mother, Sunshine Snyder of Maryland, about Stenson’s first trial in 1993.
Kelly said Wednesday that Taylor had ruled this week that she would not be disqualified but would give Stenson’s defense team another opportunity to raise the issue.
Hunko said Kelly gave him a copy of the manuscript Monday.
Taylor had subpoenaed it after Snyder had refused to release the copy.
The trial, which was moved from Clallam County, is expected to take four to six weeks. The defense and prosecution have subpoenaed 102 witnesses combined.
Stenson, found guilty of murdering his wife, Denise, and his business partner, Frank Hoerner, in 1994, had his death-row conviction overturned by the state Supreme Court in 2012.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
