SIMI VALLEY : Jury Selection Starts in Murder Trial

Jury selection began Monday in Ventura County Superior Court in the murder trial of Gregory Scott Smith, who is accused of kidnaping and strangling an 8-year-old Northridge boy, then setting fire to his body.

Smith, 23, of Canoga Park, has been held without bail since March, when he was arrested in the slaying of Paul Bailly, whose bound and gagged body was found burning on a grassy field in Black Canyon near Simi Valley on March 23. Paul had disappeared several hours earlier after his mother dropped him off at Darby Avenue School in Northridge, where Smith was fired March 6 for playing too hard with children, disciplining them too often and leaving them unattended.

On Monday, 100 potential jurors filed into Courtroom 22, the largest in the Ventura courthouse, to undergo preliminary selection by Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris, Assistant Public Defender Duane Dammeyer, Deputy Public Defender Richard Holly and Judge Steven Z. Perren.

Some potential jurors gave reasons why they could not serve in a nine-week trial, which is scheduled to begin early in January. Those who did not have acceptable excuses answered a 21-page questionnaire.

The questionnaire asked about their jobs, relatives, education, religion, voting status and mental health. It also asked whether they or anyone close to them had been involved in or the victim of crime and whether they could impose the death penalty.

The lawyers and judge are scheduled to go through another 100 prospective jurors today. Closer questioning is set to begin in mid-December, Perren said.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Unified School District and the 31st District PTA have denied civil claims filed by Paul’s family accusing them of negligence in hiring Smith and allowing numerous acts of improper behavior before firing him.

The family’s attorney, Sanford M. Gage, said he is preparing to file a lawsuit against the agencies in Los Angeles County Superior Court but wants to ensure that it does not interfere with Smith’s trial.