Frein trial approaches, with jury selection now underway

UPDATE: Twelve jurors have been selected: please see related article: http://bit.ly/2oe1bMI.

By Anya Tikka
MILFORD — With jury selection in the Eric Frein trooper ambush case underway in Chester County, the focus closer to home is on the trial when it finally gets to Milford next month.
The daytime population of Milford Borough is expected to grow dramatically during the trial, with attendant traffic and safety concerns. Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin, who is prosecuting the case, directed questions about the borough's safety to county Sheriff Phil Bueki, whose office did not respond to requests for comment.
Frein is currently being held in the Pike County jail without bail. He is accused of fatally shooting Cpl. Bryon K. Dickson II and seriously injuring Trooper Alex T. Douglass in September 2014, in a late-night sniper attack. He has pleaded not guilty. Tonkin is seeking the death penalty.
Proper decorumThe court's decorum order from the Honorable Judge Gregory Chelak, in consultation with Chester County Court officials, spells out how jurors, the public, and reporters are to behave during the jury selection phase.
It says everyone will enter through the front entrance only and dictates where everyone will sit, with admittance on a first-come, first-served basis with “no computerized pre-registration or pre-selection for the public.”
The order prohibits cell phones, laptop computers, smart phones, and similar electronic devices from the court room. Penalties for being caught with them during the trial will be subject to the penalties, including fines or summary incarceration.
Backpacks, large purses, satchels, food, and beverages are prohibited.
The order also warns about interference with jurors: “It is a serious criminal offense under Pennsylvania Law for any person to influence, intimidate or impede a juror summoned or selected to serve.”
The use of electronic devices during jury selection is prohibited but “summoned jurors may bring such electronic devices with them for their use while awaiting their participation in the jury selection process.”
Twelve individual jurors plus alternates will be selected. They will be transported to Pike County for the trial and stay in the area for the duration.
A fair trialThe trial is expected to begin at the Pike County Courthouse early April. The jury selection was moved out of Pike at the request of Frein’s defense attorneys, Michael Weinstein and William Ruzzo, who said he would not get a fair hearing in this area, where everyone is familiar with the case.
Weinstein and Ruzzo sought to suppress some statements Frein is reported to have made after the arrest. He is a survivalist with anti-government sentiments, who hid in the Pocono woods for almost two months before his capture and arrest near a disused airport hangar in the neighborhood of his Canadensis home.
In a related development, Nicole Palmer, the dispatcher who was on duty at the time of the shooting, recently filed two law suits against several individual police officers at the Blooming Grove barracks where the shooting took place, as well as Pennsylvania State Police itself, for alleged intimidation and sexual and other harassment during her time working in the barracks.