INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Round two of jury selection for the trial of Henry Lee Jones, charged with the murder of Brian Simpson, begins Wednesday at 9 a.m.
At that time, 94 prospective jurors will pack into Judge Robert L. Pegg’s courtroom to answer a second set of questions designed to reduce their numbers further and come closer to seating the jury.
By 5 p.m. Wednesday, Pegg said he expects to have a 12-person jury and two alternates in place so that the trial can begin Friday, Sept. 26th after a Thursday holiday for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
By 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Pegg called it quits on the first round of questioning, which focused on prospective jurors’ prior knowledge of the homicide, which has been widely covered in the press since Simpson, 41, was killed in his barrier island home in mid Nov., 2011.
According to police reports and accounts from his family, Brian Simpson stopped by his house unexpectedly to get a glass of ice water before going to his son Scott’s baseball practice at Riverside Park.
While at the house, he apparently heard sounds in the master bedroom and rushed toward them taking a wooden flag pole as a potential weapon. But one of two burglars in the bedroom had a gun. That man, believed to be Henry Lee Jones according to police, ran into the master bathroom with accomplice Darius Robinson, 16.
When Simpson tried to open the bathroom door, Jones, 23 at the time, shot through the door twice, killing Simpson, according to police reports.
During the continued questioning of prospective jurors Wednesday, Jones will sit by his defense attorney Alan Hunt and take notes.
Once the trial begins, the prosecution’s star witness is expected to be Robinson, now 19.
Judge Pegg said he expects the trial to be over by the end of the day Friday, Oct. 3.
