GREENFIELD — Her co-defendant is guilty of murdering an elderly couple, and the court is looking for jurors who won’t hold it against Brittany Smith, or, better yet, haven’t heard about the case at all.
Jury selection began at the Franklin County Justice Center Tuesday in the case of Smith, 29, of Athol, with three jurors being chosen from a pool of 80. Nine more jurors for the panel and three alternates are still needed.
Along with interviewing potential jurors, Judge John Agostini ruled against a change in venue that was requested by Smith’s attorney, Mary Ann Stamm, but did agree to limit usage of a photo of a victim’s body.
Smith is accused of murdering Thomas Harty, 95, and fatally wounding his 77-year-old wife, Joanna Fisher, during an Oct. 5, 2016, invasion of the couple’s home in Orange.
Joshua Hart, 25, of Athol, has already been convicted of the murders, which prosecutor Jeremy Bucci has described as a “joint venture” between Smith and Hart. Agostini excused several potential jurors for their knowledge of the Hart trial, with concerns that it would bias them against Smith.
“We’re looking for jurors to be fact-finders, to be scientists,” Agostini said.
Jury selection will recommence Wednesday morning, with up to 65 more people to be questioned by Agostini, Bucci and Stamm. A 12-person jury will be chosen to hear the evidence in Smith’s trial, which Agostini said could begin on Thursday.
Most of the questions posed to potential jurors focused on whether they could be fair and impartial to Smith. Those who knew the least about murders and case were chosen.
Other issues were whether the potential jurors were prejudiced against drug users and addicts, or whether they would hold it against Smith if she chose not to testify — her constitutional right, Agostini stressed.
Evidence of drug addiction is expected be presented during Smith’s trial. The prosecution alleges that Smith, a heroin addict, wanted to steal a car and money with her boyfriend, Hart, so they could run away together in order to avoid the consequences of their arrests two nights before the home invasion.
Smith was on the verge of being court-ordered into drug treatment, according to her mother, and Hart had warrants for his arrest from Pennsylvania. The prosecution alleges they wanted to escape treatment and jail, respectively.
The three selected jurors all said they had heard very little about the case. Two of them had known a drug addict, but indicated that it would not influence their jury duty.
One of the jurors selected, a bartender, said she had heard very little about the case, and that her brother had died in 2008 of a drug overdose.
“All of those circumstances involving your brother, could you put that aside?” Agostini asked the juror, who said she would be impartial.
“They’re two different people,” the juror said when Stamm asked if she would compare her brother’s drug addiction and actions to Smith’s.
Much of the evidence that will be presented in Smith’s case will be the same evidence that was presented in Hart’s case, Bucci said.
Hart’s trial included DNA and fingerprint evidence relating to Smith. Sweatpants with Smith’s DNA on them were found in a bag that contained a sweatshirt — worn by Hart — with Harty’s blood on it. Smith’s fingerprints were also found in the elderly couple’s home.
When Smith and Hart were captured in Rockbridge County, Va., having been tracked by Massachusetts State Police, they each were interviewed by police twice. They separately confessed to their roles in the murders in the audio recorded interviews, with Smith saying she was Fisher’s attacker.
Fisher died about a month after the home invasion of complications from her wounds. She was a paraplegic recovering from a spinal stroke at the time of the attack.
If convicted of murder in the first degree, Smith faces a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Hart is expected to be sentenced on May 10.