CLEVELAND - Follow along with NewsChannel5 web producer Jen Steer as jury selection continues for accused serial killer Anthony Sowell or keep up on the trial on Twitter @WEWScourt .
2:15 p.m.: There were 13 jurors in this last group, bringing today's total to 20.
1:37 p.m.: The judge has been using a flow chart to explain the process of the trial, referencing it with the help of a laser pointer. This time he has a little trouble and jokes that "If it works, you can follow along."
1:27 p.m.: The feed camera comes back on in the courtroom. The session was supposed to resume at 1 p.m. Anthony Sowell casually walks in. Judge Dick Ambrose said the court is going to send out letters to 10 jurors who were inadvertently dismissed. They will be asked to report back to court. These jurors were part of the original thousand that were summoned. Minutes later, the jury enters the courtroom to hear from Ambrose, as he welcomes them into courtroom 18B.
12:20 p.m.: Attorney Jeffery Friedman and Lashanda Long's father, Jim Allen, deliver a petition to Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason's office, asking the prosecutors to accept a plea deal and not take the case to trial.
11:38 a.m.: A photo I shot from the monitor earlier this morning.
11:26 a.m.: The bailiff has informed the media that they are now breaking for lunch and will resume promptly at 1 p.m. During this week, the break have only between 15 and 35 minutes, but today gives everyone a little extra time.
11:05 a.m.: Many of the women whose bodies were discovered in October and November 2009 at Anthony Sowell's Imperial Avenue home on Cleveland's east side lived in or frequented the area. For a map of those locations in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood, click here http://5.wews.com/Y7N
10:50 a.m.: Outside the closed doors of Judge Ambrose's courtroom, sits a metal detector, flanked by three officers. While no one is allowed in the room during jury questioning, the public is permitted in during the start of morning and afternoon sessions. Family members of the victims and whoever else wants to sit in court has to pass through the metal detector in the hall. Justice Center visitors also pass thorugh metal detectors on the building's first floor.
10:04 a.m.: There were only seven jurors in the morning group because the bailiff said three people did not show up. This group was mostly people 50 years old and up. In checking the court docket for case 530885 the state of Ohio vs. Anthony Sowell, there has been nothing new added since May 10.
9:42 a.m.: For comprehensive coverage, check out our interactive Anthony Sowell section, with a map, timeline and a history of the events on Imperial Avenue http://5.wews.com/CVt
9:12 a.m.: If Sowell is found guilty, there will be two phrases to the trial: The trial phase and the sentencing phase. Sowell could face four possible sentences: Death penalty, life in prison without parole, life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years and life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
9:08 a.m.: Judge Ambrose says that it is not an issue of if you have an opinion on the death, but if you can set aside any preconceived notions and follow the law, as instructed by the judge. Now comes the time that the jury goes back into the jury room and the courtroom is cleared. That's also our que that the feed camera will be shut off.
9:07 a.m.: A member of the prosecution is flipping through the jury questionnaires in front of her. The one on top has the number "97" scribbled on it in thick, black marker.
9:04 a.m.: With each day, the mood becomes more relaxed. Assistant prosecuting attorney Rick Bombik swivels in his chair back and forth, checking out the room and locking onto the pool camera for a brief moment. To his right, assistant prosecuting attorney Pinkey Carr, dressed in a lavender suit, keeps her head down, writing feverishly.
8:58 a.m.: Judge Ambrose is now well acquainted with the jury's instructions. The first day, it took him nearly a half hour to read through the death penalty explanation. Now, he speeds through, only pausing slightly to clear his throat or swallow.
8:55 a.m: A sheriff's deputy brings Sowell into the courtroom, and just seconds later the judge enters to begin his speech to the potential jurors. Sowell is wearing his familiar white polo shirts with black and blue strips. He sits casually in his chair, leaning back slightly.
8:52 a.m.: As I watch the monitor in the media room, the feed camera is fixed on the wood-paneled walls of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Dick Ambrose's courtroom. With every click of a doorknob, my ears perk up.
8:46 a.m.: Defense attorney John Parker paces a little around his chair, fanning himself with a few sheets of paper. Parker and Rufus Sims make up 51-year-old Anthony Sowell's defense team. Sowell faces nearly 100 counts, including aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape, abuse of a corpse, aggravated assault and aggravated robbery.
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