• LESLIE WILBER - VICTORIA ADVOCATE
• Originally published July 29, 2008 at 12:06 a.m., updated July 29, 2008 at 12:06 a.m.

Jury selection began for a second time Monday in the trial of an Edna man charged in a triple slaying.

LaJames Norman, 22, is charged with killing Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38 during a 2005 robbery at their home in Edna. Kersean Ramey, Norman's co-defendant, was sentenced to death by a Victoria County jury in 2007.

The case was moved to Victoria on a change of venue.

But Norman’s trial has rolled haltingly forward. The first jury selection began last October.

It took months for lawyers to pick 12 jurors for the death-penalty case. Meanwhile, defense attorney Elliot Costas twice asked District Judge Patrick Kelly to let him step down.

In January, Kelly let Costas leave the case, and appointed Houston attorney Allen Tanner to defend Norman. The judge ruled Tanner would be allowed to pick a new jury.

Trouble with the trial began when Jackson County District Attorney Bobby Bell subpoenaed records from forensic psychologist Mark Cunningham’s past trials. Cunningham was an expert witness for the defense.

Kelly quashed that subpoena.

But Cunningham still refused to work on the case, citing ethical concerns.

Costas’ case was destroyed without the expert witness, he said.

“Dr. Mark D. Cunningham is the premier expert in the mitigation field and its members do not take kindly to his savaging,” Costas wrote.

The conflict climaxed in a January hearing. Bell and Costas sniped about the others’ common sense and stability, and who said hello to whom in the hallway.

The Victoria County District Clerk’s Office called 500 people to jury duty Monday, district clerk Cathy Stuart said. By the end of the day, 143 qualified jurors emerged from that pool, she said.

It will likely take a couple of months to select a panel to hear the death-penalty case, Stuart said.

Potential jurors filled out questionnaires Monday and lawyers will start questioning them in about a week, she said.

Leslie Wilber is a reporter for the Victoria Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6521 or e-mail her at lwilber@vicad.com.

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