MONCTON – The jury selection for a high profile kidnapping case is one of the biggest undertakings Moncton has ever seen, so big it had to take place at Moncton Coliseum.
Romeo Jacques Cormier will go on trial for the alleged kidnapping and sexual assault of a 54-year-old woman in 2010.
The case against Cormier, 62, is under a publication ban.
He stands accused of taking the woman from the Highfield Square parking lot February 26 and holding her captive for 26 days.
Lawyer Wendell Maxwell says the search for the woman was so highly publicized that it’s difficult to find impartial jurors.
“Impartiality,” Maxwell says, “is a very important factor… That they haven’t been predetermined issues by reason of all the press that came to the forefront as result of the case.”
About 1,500 potential jurors were summoned, but that number was cut in half because of exemptions by the time the selection process began Monday morning.
The Department of Justice is hoping to have 12 jurors chosen by the end of the week.
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