UPDATE: Jury in Rashad Owens Trial selected
Update, 7:30 P.M.
A jury has been selected for the murder trial of Rashad Owens. He's accused of running down a crowd of SXSW festival-goers last year. Monday afternoon, a jury of seven women and five men was selected - along with two male alternates.
23-year old Rashad Owens entered court Monday morning wearing a checkered shirt and slacks. He's been in jail since last year when he allegedly was involved in an incident that killed four people and injured 24 others.
Mason Endress - one of the survivors- spoke to FOX 7 as she started her recovery and said she doesn’t think about Owens.
"I could have a bad attitude about it and dwell on it or I could get on my life and get better and not worry about him. Because he's not gonna affect me anymore. That's how I have to look at that,” said Endress.
According to investigators Owens was drunk and was trying to get away from an officer who had stopped him for a traffic violation. Witnesses -who near the intersection of 9th & red river described seeing a car slamming through a barricade, and hitting people who were in front a of a SXSW music venue.
Owens’ attorney Ricky Jones claims prosecutors only offered a plea deal, which they turned down, forcing a trial to take place.
"We don’t have any choice; the offer was life ... So we don’t have any choice but to go through with it."
Jones is hoping for a not guilty verdict on the capital murder charge and a lighter sentence on one of the other lesser felony charges Owens is facing suggesting that’s appropriate because Owens is sorry.
"He is remorseful that anybody was hurt or injured he maintains that was not his intent and hopefully the jury will see that and we will have a positive outcome,” said Jones.
It was expected that jury selection would take the entire week with a pool of 300 people being called. But in a surprise the attorneys completed the procession one day. In order to determine who will eventually sit in the jury box the group was asked a series of questions. First on the questionnaire obtained by fox7 asked;
“Do you know anyone who has been injured or died in an automobile collision?”
The jury was also asked if the crash into the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade this past weekend could affect their judgment.
"There were a couple of people that said because of the OSU incident it was just too much overwhelming for them, it mad them relate back to this thing it almost brought them back to the night it happened, and therefore it made them unable to serve on the jury panel. So I think it was a very relevant question because it actually made some people unable to serve on this panel,” said Jones.
The trial begins November 2nd.
____________________________________________________________________________________
A jury has been selected for the murder trial of Rashad Owens. He's accused of running down a crowd of SXSW festival-goers last year. Monday afternoon, a jury of seven women and five men was selected along with two male alternates.
23-year old Rashad Owens entered court Monday morning wearing a checkered shirt and slacks. He's been in jail since last year when he allegedly was involved in an incident that killed four people and injured 24 others.
Mason Endress, one of the survivors, spoke to FOX 7 as she started her recovery and said she doesn’t think about Owens.
"I could have a bad attitude about it and dwell on it or I could get on my life and get better and not worry about him. Because he's not gonna affect me anymore. That's how I have to look at that,” said Endress.
According to investigators Owens was drunk and was trying to get away from an officer who had stopped him for a traffic violation. Witnesses -who near the intersection of 9th & red river described seeing a car slamming through a barricade, and hitting people who were in front a of a SXSW music venue.
Owens’ attorney Ricky Jones claims prosecutors only offered a plea deal, which they turned down, forcing a trial to take place.
"We don’t have any choice; the offer was life ... So we don’t have any choice but to go through with it.
Jones is hoping for a not guilty verdict on the capital murder charge and a lighter sentence on one of the other lesser Felony charges Owens is facing suggesting that’s appropriate because Owens is sorry.
"He is remorseful that anybody was hurt or injured he maintains that was not his intent and hopefully the jury will see that and we will have a positive outcome,” said Jones.
It was expected that jury selection would take the entire week with a pool of 300 people being called. But in a surprise the attorneys completed the procession one day. In order to determine who will eventually sit in the jury box the group was asked a series of questions. First on the questionnaire obtained by FOX 7 asked;
“Do you know anyone who has been injured or died in an automobile collision?”
The jury was also asked if the crash into the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade this past weekend could affect their judgment.
"There were a couple of people that said because of the OSU incident it was just too much overwhelming for them, it mad them relate back to this thing it almost brought them back to the night it happened, and therefore it made them unable to serve on the jury panel. So I think it was a very relevant question because it actually made some people unable to serve on this panel,” said Jones.
The trial begins Nov 2nd.