Emilia Lily Carr talks with investigator Roger Chilton as jury selection begins in her murder trial at the Marion County Judicial Center in Ocala on Monday November 29, 2010.
Emilia Lily Carr
Woman's murder trial under way
Jury selection is under way in the first-degree murder trial of Emilia Carr, one of two defendants charged with kidnapping Citra resident Heather Strong and manifesting a brutal crime that ended with the burial of the young mother's remains in a shallow grave.
Carr is the first of two people to appear before a Marion County jury for an alleged crime prosecutors claim was so heinous, it warrants consideration of the death penalty.
Carr's co-defendant, Joshua Fulgham, will be tried separately under the same charges at a later date.
Seated beside her attorneys, Candace Hawthorne and Brenda Smith, Carr betrayed little emotion as Circuit Judge Willard Pope addressed a dozens-deep jury pool--14 of whom are expected to be chosen by the end of the day.
Prosecutors claim Carr and then-boyfriend Fulgham lured Strong into a storage trailer in McIntosh, placed a plastic bag over her head and tried to break her neck, resorting to constricting her airway when that failed. Strong was the estranged wife of Fulgham and the mother of his two children; the couple had a turbulent history.
Shortly before her death, Strong, 26, had plans to relocate to Mississippi with her kids, according to court depositions.
Strong's body was uncovered from a makeshift grave several months after she was reported missing.
Investigators familiar with the case say the trial could take up to a week. In the event of conviction, the trial will move to a penalty phase
http://www.ocala.com/article/2010112...nder-way&tc=ar
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