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New Jury Seated To Hear Murder Case

POSTED: Tuesday, November 27, 2007

A jury was selected for a second time in the case of a man accused of killing one woman, and stabbing another at a hotel nearly two years ago.

James Turner is accused in the 2005 stabbing death of Renee Howard.

The incident took place at a St. Augustine hotel, where Howard and a friend, Stacia Raybon, were stabbed as Howard's children watched.

Prosecutors said Turner broke into the room in which Howard was staying and stabbed the woman 15 times because he wanted to steal her car.

They said Turner also stabbed Raybon and tried to kill her before taking off in Howard's truck and later crashing it during a police chase.

Raybon testified in Turner's first trial last summer.

In July, the case ended in a mistrial when one of the jurors had a seizure during deliberations and had to be removed from the courthouse on a stretcher and rushed to an area hospital.

"It's not fun, but it's the way our system works. This could go on for 12 or 15 years, but we'll be here," said Jeff Howard, a relative of the victim.

Tuesday was the second day of jury selection for the retrial, but a television in the jury waiting room caused some trouble before the jurors were chosen.

Channel 4's Laura Mazzeo reported the TV in the jury waiting room usually broadcasts national news but the judge said on the first day of jury selection it was on local news so many jurors had to be dismissed.

Shortly before 5:30 p.m., a jury was selected.

Opening arguments are expected to begin Wednesday at 9 a.m. The trial is expected to last through Friday after next.

If convicted, Turner faces life in prison without parole or the death sentence.

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