(EL PASO COUNTY, Colo.) — A motions hearing for Letecia Stauch, a woman accused of killing her 11-year-old stepson concluded with a timeline for future court proceedings Thursday afternoon on Feb. 2.
Judge Gregory Werner ordered all court documents for the trial be submitted by Feb. 13, which includes Stauch’s sanity reports from experts. All other motions are to be submitted by March 9. The presentation of evidence will begin on April 3.
4th Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen asked for six weeks of trial for the presentation of evidence due to the delay in receiving Stauch’s sanity reports.
“I think if it’s pretty extensive in its findings and what the basis for different conclusions might be, we might have to put on more evidence than we otherwise would have,” said DA Allen. He also stated that the Prosecution plans to bring in many people to testify due to the scope of the case.
Starting March 20, a jury selection process will begin. Judge Werner said he aims to bring in 75 jurors a day for a total of 110 jurors over a span of 11 to 15 days. Seven to ten jurors of the 75 would be qualified. He expects to lose about 25% to 30% of this pool of qualified jurors.
Judge Werner said he intends to have 12 jurors and six additional alternates for the trial. To protect the identities of the jurors, the trial will only have live audio streaming and will be addressed by juror seat number.
When Stauch’s defense brought up concerns over the publicity of the case and how it would affect jury selection, Judge Werner said “publicity itself is not a basis for removal of a juror.”
“The question is, it doesn’t matter what you’ve heard, doesn’t matter what you’ve seen. The question is, can you put that aside and decide the case based on the facts? And if the answer to that is yes, then it doesn’t matter what they’ve seen, it doesn’t matter what they’ve heard,” stated Judge Werner.
Jurors will be given a questionnaire for selection with specific questions regarding the age of the victim and specific facts related to the case. DA Allen requested that questions regarding insanity also be incorporated into the questionnaire.
