Questioning Centers On Death Penalty Stance : Selection of Troiani Jury Enters Fourth Week

Jury selection in the Laura Troiani murder trial in Vista goes into its fourth week today with prospective jurors being asked whether they could apply California’s death penalty law against the 25-year-old woman.

Most of the 24 people asked so far have said--some nervously, some matter-of-factly--that they could sentence Troiani to death if she is convicted of murdering her husband and if the evidence and circumstances warranted the death penalty.

Prospective jurors also are being asked whether they have been prejudiced by pretrial publicity. If there have been any surprises so far in the jury selection process, it may be over how few people say they have followed the case in the media.

A pretrial survey of a sampling of jury-eligible North County residents by Troiani’s defense team had indicated that about two-thirds of those questioned were aware, to some degree, of the celebrated case, in which Troiani is accused of hiring five Marines in a conspiracy to kill her husband of five years, Carlo Troiani.

Troiani was shot to death on a desolate Oceanside street Aug. 10, 1984, and the district attorney’s office is seeking the death penalty against each of the six suspects on charges of lying-in-wait and committing first-degree murder for money.

Laura Troiani and the five men plotted to kill Carlo Troiani, a Marine staff sergeant, to cash in on his $95,000 life insurance policy and so Troiani could marry a secret lover, the prosecution contends. She lured her husband to the murder scene on the pretense of having car trouble, and sat behind the wheel of her car as he was shot twice in the back by one of the suspects who was hiding alongside the road, according to the charges brought against the group.

The five other defendants will be tried separately after Troiani’s trial.

The defense has strenuously argued that because of the amount of pretrial publicity surrounding the prolonged case, the trial should be held outside North County.

Motions Denied

Superior Court Judge Gilbert Nares has denied the motions, saying he is confident that jurors could be selected who would not have been prejudiced by radio, television or newspaper reports.

And indeed, only 2 of the 24 prospective jurors questioned so far have said they have been prejudiced by media coverage.

“Polls don’t reflect reality, and the reality is that people haven’t been affected by the reporting,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Paul Pfingst, who is co-prosecuting the case with Phil Walden, who heads the district attorney’s office in Vista.

Said Walden: “Judge Nares indicated before the voir dire (jury selection) process that he thought the only persons who were following the case were other judges and attorneys, and it seems he’s right.”

Even defense attorney Geraldine Russell conceded last week that she was surprised by how few people have acknowledged that they have followed the case.

“It’s still a concern with us because we’ve only seen 24 (prospective jurors) so far, but yes, we’re surprised that they haven’t indicated that much awareness of the case despite the extent of the coverage,” Russell said. “It seems inconsistent with our survey.”

Attorneys are in the midst of the second round of jury selection; the first two weeks were spent determining how many of more than 400 prospective jurors could sit on the case, which is expected to last into October, without financial or family hardship. The initial screening generated 198 prospective jurors who said they could serve.

Last week, attorneys began asking those 198 people, one at a time, their views on the death penalty and whether they have been prejudiced by pretrial publicity. This round of questioning is expected to end June 30.

Of the first 24 people questioned last week, two were excused because they said they were unwilling to apply California’s death penalty law, two were excused because they said they were too familiar with the case because of the publicity, and a fifth was excused because he had just learned his employer would not pay him to serve on a jury into the fall.

After each of the 198 prospective jurors are questioned on the death penalty and publicity issues, the more general voir dire process will begin in which both sides will attempt to weed out those people they feel will be less than fair to their side because of hidden prejudices or other criteria.

Each side will be allowed to excuse up to 26 prospective jurors for any reason in the course of selecting a 12-member jury and four alternates, and Nares can dismiss any number of prospective jurors because of blatant biases or other conflicts of interest.

Walden said only half of the 198 prospective jurors now being questioned will have to pass muster on the death penalty and publicity issues in order to have a large enough pool from which to ultimately select the 16 jurors. At the current selection rate, it seems that far more than 100 will be available from which to select the final jury, he said.

Each of the prospective jurors is being told of the specific charges against Troiani and of the alleged overt acts leading up to the killing, including how two of the suspects allegedly electrocuted a mouse with a motorcycle battery to test the rigging for a bomb. The defendants had first planned to kill Troiani with a car bomb--an attempt that was foiled when Carlo Troiani discovered the device and thought some of the Marines under his command were up to some no-good shenanigans, the prosecution alleged.

The prospective jurors are then told that should they find Troiani guilty of first-degree murder and of committing the crime either for financial gain or by lying in wait, they will then be asked in a separate, penalty phase of the trial whether she should be sentenced to death or to prison without the possibility of parole.

One of the jury prospects told Nares that he could apply the death penalty law if he was asked to, but that “I wouldn’t necessarily feel good about it.”

What were his feelings about the death penalty in general, he was asked. “Punishment should fit the crime,” he responded.

Another said he had not had reason previously to give much thought to the death penalty. Sentencing a person to death “would be something I would have to come to grips with,” he said.

A third man was excused from the Troiani jury pool after he said he could think of no crime that would justify a death penalty. “I don’t believe in it,” he said. “I don’t like to see anyone put to death. I was in Vietnam and saw a lot of people die.”

Another prospective juror said she was so opposed to the death penalty that she would be hard pressed to kill a person even in the defense of her own life. She too was excused from the jury panel.

When Walden pointed to Troiani and specifically asked a prospective juror who is about the same age as the defendant whether she could sentence Troiani to death, she smiled nervously, looked toward Troiani and said, “Yeah, but you’d better convince me.”

Jury selection resumes this morning. Nares has said he hopes the number of prospective jurors to be questioned daily can be increased from 8 to 12.

The trial is expected to begin by mid-July and last about 2 1/2 months.