Rathbun Judge OKs Juror Questionnaire

About 200 people will be called on Sept. 16 to see who will be on the jury for the murder trial of Charles Rathbun, a photographer accused of sexually assaulting and killing Hermosa Beach model Linda Sobek during a November photo shoot.

Torrance Superior Court Judge Donald F. Pitts on Thursday approved a list of 84 questions that potential jurors will have to answer to determine who will be selected. The questionnaire was sealed by the court.

Attorneys for the prosecution and the defense expect to spend two days questioning people to decide who will spend approximately four weeks on the jury. The finalists will fill out the questionnaire and return on Sept. 24 for voir dire, or the questioning period for potential jurors.

Pitts also made a final ruling that if Rathbun takes the stand, the prosecution during cross-examination can bring up statements made during three days of police interrogations. If Rathbun doesn’t take the stand, the statements can’t be used because Rathbun’s Miranda rights were violated during the interrogations between Nov. 22 and Nov. 24 because he repeatedly asked for an attorney.

Defense attorney Mark J. Werksman said he hasn’t decided whether he will put Rathbun on the stand.

Pitts granted a prosecution motion to admit coroner’s photos and medical drawings as evidence in the trial. The photos show Sobek’s injuries, the shallow grave site discovered after rescue teams searched six days in the Angeles National Forest, and the model lying in the grave. The medical drawings show Sobek’s neck muscles and the area where she was strangled.

Rathbun, 38, has pleaded not guilty to the charges, saying that he accidentally hit Sobek with a sports utility vehicle during a photo shoot Nov. 16. He led detectives to Sobek’s body after they were unsuccessful in finding it.

The coroner’s department found that Sobek, 27, had died from asphyxiation and was sodomized. It also found that her blood-alcohol content was 0.13%, above the legal limit for intoxication.

Werksman said his client remains in isolation at the Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail where he spends most of his time reading or writing his family in Ohio and Virginia.