Iowa towns brace for murder trial

IOWA CITY (AP) — The murder trial of a former football player accused of killing his high school coach is expected to test the resources of two small Iowa towns.

A crush of media and potential jurors is expected at the Boyd Building in Shell Rock on Wednesday morning, when jury selection in the trial of Mark D. Becker is scheduled to start.

Jury selection had been scheduled to start today, but Judge Stephen Carroll postponed it Sunday, citing an impending snowstorm that was expected to dump 10 to 12 inches of snow on Butler County, according to Nancy Newhouse, the trial's media coordinator and editor of the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier.

Becker, 24, is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of his former coach, Ed Thomas, last June in the Aplington-Parkersburg High School weight room. Defense attorney Susan Flander has said Becker will use a defense of insanity or diminished responsibility.

The shooting has drawn national attention, in part because of Thomas' success on the field and his role in leading Parkersburg's recovery from a massive and deadly tornado in 2008.

Becker's trial is expected to be held in Allison, the seat of Butler County, but prosecutors have filed a motion that will allow them to change venues if it becomes apparent an impartial jury can't be found in the county.

Jury selection will start with about 200 people. That number was too big for any room in Allison, a city of about 1,000 people, so the jury selection was moved to the slightly larger community of Shell Rock.

Mike Klinefelter, owner of the Shell Rock restaurant Klinc's, said Carroll, the judge in the case, stopped by to warn him about the influx of potential jurors, lawyers and media people into the little town.

“He came in to make sure we'd be prepared,” Klinefelter said. “From what Judge Carroll told us, we expect between 200 and 300 people.”

Klinefelter said his is one of only two restaurants in town, each of which will serve a preset list of daily specials for as long as the jury selection lasts.

“It's just to help turn people over as fast as we can,” Klinefelter said.

Shell Rock, with about 1,200 people, has a one-man police force — Police Chief Lou Staudt. He said the city would be ready for jury selection at the Boyd Building, home to city hall.

“We're taking extra precautions, making sure (the Boyd Building) is secure,” Staudt said. “It's just the simple fact that it's just a big jury selection that's being held and we need to be ready.”

Staudt said he's walked the area and will rope off a street in front of the building to help direct the foot traffic of potential jurors, court officials and the media.

If the trial is held in Butler County, Carroll wrote in an order that it would begin the morning after jury selection ends.

« Crime/Courts

Share