CLEVELAND — Jury selection started Tuesday in a high-profile case of a well-respected doctor accused of killing his wife.
Prosecutors said Yazeed Essa, 41, poisoned his wife, Rosemarie Essa, with cyanide in 2005, and then took off to Cyprus, where he was eventually arrested.
“Jury selection is second to military service in what you can do as part of service to the country,” Judge Deena Calabrese said.
The criminal case spans five years and three countries.
Tuesday, 100 potential jurors were given a 69 question survey.
The prosecution hopes to prove the former emergency room doctor poisoned his wife using cyanide poison in calcium supplements.
Rosemarie Essa died at Hilcrest Hospital in 2005 after losing control of her car in Highland Heights. Before her death, she told doctors she felt sick after taking pills she said she got from her husband.
“Your job is going to be to determine whether or not the state of Ohio has met the burden of proof, beyond reasonable doubt,” Calabrese said.
But the defense has expressed doubts of its own and was worried that so many potential jurors walked in with the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Tuesday’s Plain Dealer gave accounts of past assault charges, alleged affairs and alleged previous attempts by Yazeed Essa to kill his wife using anti-freeze. All this testimony a judge has ruled has no place in this case.
Article courtesy of: newsnet5.com
