James Burns' murder trial underway in Saline County
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Jury selection began Monday morning in the trial of James Burns, who is charged with two counts of first degree murder in connection with the 2004 shooting death of Edwin Thomas Condon.
Chief Judge Mark Clarke asked questions of the prospective jurors first, followed by the prosecutor and defense attorney questioning prospective jurors. Several prospective jurors were excused due to preconceived notions about the case or relation to those involved in the case.
Jury selection proceeded more efficiently and quickly than expected, and opening statements were given in the early afternoon Monday. Special Prosecutor Edwin Parkinson delivered opening statements for the state. He gave the jury an overview of the prosecution's case, which Parkinson says will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Burns shot and intentionally killed Condon on or around Dec. 10, 2004.
Defense Attorney Nathan Rowland then delivered his opening statements to the jury. Rowland asked the jury not to jump to conclusions in this case and to wait until all the evidence is presented before making any decisions. Rowland said the prosecution will present a good story, but that is all it is: a story. Before buying into it, Rowland told jurors to first ask themselves, "Does this story make sense? Is this story credible?"
The prosecution called the first witness, Catherine Clark, Condon's daughter. She testified she became concerned about her father when she had not heard from him for an unusually long period of time. Because she lived out of state and Condon did not have any close relatives living nearby who could check on him, Clark called the Harrisburg Police Department. A subsequent wellness check of Condon's residence revealed he had been dead for some time.
Rowland did not cross-examine Clark.
The state's second witness, Dr. Neal Haskell, is an expert in the field of forensic entomology. Haskell assists authorities in determining the time of death based on the life stages of maggots feeding on the tissue of a decomposing body. Haskell, who also testified as an expert witness in the famed Casey Anthony trial, determined the time of Condon's death to be sometime between Dec. 8 and Dec. 10, 2004, based on analysis of maggots sent to him in a vile after the autopsy was conducted on Dec. 29.
Rowland then cross-examined Haskell, who said he had not actually examined the body or seen the crime scene. Additionally, Haskell calculated Condon's time of death based on the body being in a 70-degree state after death, but could not recall which law enforcement officer had advised him that Condon's thermostat was set at 70 degrees. Any variation in temperature would have caused the maggots to mature at a different rate, throwing off Haskell's calculations.
The trial is expected to last most of the week.