Stewart Jury to Come from Stanly County
Robert Kenneth Stewart in court for a hearing last year. Glenn M. Sides
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Jury selection is set for July in the trial of a man the state says murdered seven elderly nursing home residents and the male nurse who tried to protect them.
Robert Kenneth Stewart faces eight first-degree murder counts and other charges, and District Attorney Maureen Krueger is seeking the death penalty.
Monday morning just before the lunch break, Senior Resident Superior Court Judge James M. Webb moved the venue to Stanly County "for the limited purpose of jury selection" and set a date. Those Albemarle proceedings are expected to take three or four weeks; then the trial comes back to Carthage.
"Jury selection shall commence on July 11, 2011," Webb said. "This court shall retain jurisdiction to effectuate orders necessary to accomplish jury selection."
Upon completion of jury selection in Albemarle, the case is to return for the trial itself to Moore County where Stewart is being held in jail. Webb retained jurisdiction to the Superior Court of Moore County for all pre-trial and post-trial proceedings.
Webb entered his order in open court as a supplement to his previous Oct. 14 ruling denying a defense motion to move the trial itself. At that time he ordered jury selection alone take place in another county without specifying which it would be.
The jury selection order takes effect as if it had been made Nov. 5, 2010, Webb ordered.
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Comments
theonewithsense 2 years, 6 months ago
since he is innocent until proven guilty, we as a society must spare no cost in ensuring that he gets a fair trial by an impartial jury.
mothergoose5 2 years, 6 months ago
PUL-EEEEZE
dove3 2 years, 6 months ago
I agree everyone is entitled to a fair trial. But "spare no cost" What about the victims families when he is found guilty? What cost did they have to pay? It is tragic for everyone that this happened and to think we have to spend precious tax dollars to put him away. Prayers go out to all the families who have to relive and remember during this trial.
pilotreader 2 years, 6 months ago
"since he is innocent until proven guilty, we as a society must spare no cost in ensuring that he gets a fair trial by an impartial jury."
I agree BUT I sure do wish we had a common sense clause to the law. This man is beyond guilty and no evidence could pursuade anyone otherwise. It's such a shame we have to waste taxpayer money and man power and even further expose the families of the victims to this expensive dog and pony show.
sopinesnative 2 years, 6 months ago
Let's hope the jury from Stanly County isn't afraid to give the death penalty!!!
davidlambert87 2 years, 6 months ago
I too see no reason why a jury would not convict him.... HOWEVER..... I do believe that it is wise for jury members to come from Stanly county because it removes the argument of an appeal because of a tainted jury pool..... Depending on the sentence, there will automatically be appeals in place anyway.....lets not spend more money debating this issue when we can get outside jury members to assist MoCo remain above reproach in this trial.
Everyone deserves a fair trail... and many of us in Moore County...(maybe I should speak for myself here.....) have strong opinions about this event which makes it tougher than usual to remain impartial. I am certain that there are MoCo citizens who could do it. There is no doubt about that. However, in this case it is best that they come from Stanly Co.
theonewithsense 2 years, 6 months ago
Sorry, I was being a little facetious. I agree that the jury should come from another county. I think that lessens the chances of appeal. The cost of a 50 cent bullet is enough for me, but we do have a system in place.
Hopefully, he will be found guilty and his punishment will just. Generally, I am against the death penalty, but in this case I have no argument against it and wouldn't lose a second of sleep. I hate the death penalty appeal process. You should be able to appeal just like any other case. After that, done......some lawyers are going to make a lot of money in this case. The longer they can stretch it out, the more money they make.
hcaeb 2 years, 6 months ago
I think there is a misspell - Judge Well?
None 2 years, 6 months ago
hcaeb says... I think there is a misspell - Judge Well?
The Pilot doesn't use dictionary's. I've offered mine. Spell check doesn't know the difference between Well and Webb -
Barry_Dangerous 2 years, 6 months ago
dictionary's <- ROFLMAO
SoPinesNo1 2 years, 6 months ago
Thank you Toda for not using this article to provide additional babble about the new Jail.
theonewithsense 2 years, 6 months ago
This comment was removed by Chuck Norris for violation of the usage agreement.
None 2 years, 6 months ago
SoPinesNo1 says..."using this article to provide additional babble about the new Jail." Yes and you're welcome. Facts from the county are really difficult to deal with when on a spending spree that's off the charts of liberalism!
None 2 years, 6 months ago
Barry_Dangerous says... dictionary's <- ROFLMAO
Use the appostrophe to indicate the possessive case for nouns and indefinite pronouns.
In English the possessive case shows ownership or possession of one person or thing by another: The Little Brown Handbook Tenth Edition.
{;-) you're welcome...I had an old girlfriend you wore a paper bag on her head - she was UGLY!
OBXNC 2 years, 6 months ago
Well so much for a speedy trial. July 2011 to start selecting a jury is a joke. This guy, no matter what the outcome of a trial, will die of natural causes before all his appeals , etc. run out. I hope everyone is proud of our "system". I hope all of the supporters of all the liberal policies we have on our state law books to "protect" criminals keep working really hard , so you can keep supporting their upkeep, and providing for their free lawyers. When a country takes care of it's criminals better than it's law abiding citizens something is very wrong that needs to be fixed.