The jury is set for the trial of Mark De Simone, who is accused of killing Juneau jeweler Duilio Antonio “Tony” Rosales in 2016.
Assistant Public Defender Deborah Macaulay and Assistant District Attorney Amy Paige will both give an opening statement Friday, where they will lay out their case to the person jury. Judge Philip Pallenberg said in court Thursday that witnesses will start taking the stand Monday.
Fourteen people are on the jury. Twelve will end up deliberating and reaching a verdict, while two will end up being alternates.
Macaulay and Paige each had an hour to question jurors on Thursday afternoon in a process known as voir dire. The process is intended to determine any biases or issues with prospective jurors, and came after about 50 prospective jurors were questioned individually. The combination of travel plans, family emergencies and consumption of media coverage resulted in the individual questionings.
The attorneys went through two rounds of voir dire, questioning a group of 24, then eliminating a few of them until they got to fewer than 14 people. They then questioned six more people, and whittled that number down to fill out the 14-person jury.
“This process has taken quite a bit longer than I think anyone expected,” Assistant District Attorney Amy Paige told jurors Thursday afternoon at the outset of voir dire.
Jury selection had already been delayed by two days due to new witness testimony that arose last week. Previously, attorneys have estimated that the trial will last for three weeks.
Prosecutors will try to prove that De Simone, 55, shot and killed Rosales, 34. Charging documents allege that Alaska State Trooper Ryan Anderson found Rosales deceased with two gunshots in the back of his head at Excursion Inlet on May 15, 2016. Rosales and others, including De Simone, were on a hunting trip at the time, according to court records.
One witness told Anderson that De Simone admitted to shooting Rosales before Anderson arrived on the scene, according to charging documents.
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
Mark Anthony De Simone, 53 at the time, arrives in Juneau District Court for his arraignment on Tuesday, May 17, 2016. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)
