SAN ANTONIO – When jury selection resumes Monday in the capital murder trial of Otis McKane, individual jurors will be interviewed based on a questionnaire they completed in March prior to a moratorium on jury duty ordered due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When you’re dealing with a death penalty case each individual juror gets questioned extensively regarding any potential bias or prejudices they may have,” said 379th District Judge Ron Rangel, who will be presiding over the trial.
“Both sides have requested the opportunity to add additional questions to this questionnaire because of the social unrest that’s been going on in the community," he said.
Rangel said he plans to accommodate the requests.
McKane, 35, is accused of shooting San Antonio Police Department Detective Ben Marconi at point-blank range while he was sitting in his patrol car in front of Public Safety Headquarters the morning of Nov. 20, 2016.
Jury selection will go slower than normal due to COVID-19 protocols, he said.
“We’ve got to clean the entire courtroom between every juror, and that’s going to take time”, Rangel said.
He predicted that jury selection will likely go well into January.