Pasadena : Murder Trial Under Way
Jury selection began this week in Pasadena Superior Court for the double-murder trial of Robert Gregg Butler, a nationally ranked track star who is charged with the slayings of a popular Pasadena high school teacher and a student.
Butler, 22, is charged with killing John Muir High School social sciences teacher Robert E. Jones, 47, and 17-year-old Ronald McClendon, a junior varsity basketball player at the school. Both were found shot to death in Jones’ home near Pasadena on Dec. 12.
A police science student at Azusa Pacific University, Butler pleaded innocent at his March preliminary hearing, during which his signed confession was introduced as evidence. Superior Court Judge Coleman A. Swart is presiding over the trial. Jury selection, which began late Monday afternoon, was expected to take most of the week.
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