Jury selection begins in Stewart trial

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - At this hour jury selection for the second trial in the mass murder on Hamilton Avenue continues in a Marion County courtroom.

This time, James Stewart, the man prosecutors are calling an accomplice will face a judge and jury.

Earlier this month the same judge sentenced Desmond Turner, the trigger man to life in prison without parole following a bench trial. Turner agreed to a trial without a jury in exchange for the death penalty being dropped by the prosecution.

Stewart’s trial however is a jury trial. Monday, dozens of potential jurors lined the hallway outside the courtroom, waiting their turn for questioning.

Of those who were questioned Monday morning, almost all of them knew about the case, but many said they couldn’t remember all the details.

That’s because it’s been nearly three and a half years since officers found 7 members of the Covarrubias-Albarran family dead in their Hamilton Avenue home.

The motive was robbery. There was little physical evidence. However, circumstantial evidence helped convict Turner of going into the home and gunning down all seven people including three children.

Stewart is accused of accompanying Turner and working with him to rob the family.

Stewart faces 25 charges including various murder charges.

Jury selection is expected to last three days. The trial is expected to start Thursday.