People v. Wales

Yesawich, Jr., J.

*767Defendant was convicted of the brutal rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl who had stopped at his home collecting for her newspaper route. After a police search uncovered the girl’s body in defendant’s basement, he admitted killing her.

Extensive pretrial publicity on this case, other contemporaneous murders and child abuse incidents in the locality prompted a protracted jury voir dire at defendant’s trial. Defendant’s appeal focuses primarily on County Court’s denial of certain challenges for cause made by defendant. One such challenge was to juror Frank Clark, predicated…