Jury selection gets underway this morning for murder defendant Siaumau Siaumau Jr., accused of the July 22, 2010 shooting of police detective Liusila Brown outside what was then the High Court of American Samoa, downstairs of the GHC Reid Building in Malaloa.
It’s expected that selection of jurors who would be impartial and not connected to any of the parties in the case, or be influenced by heavy publicity about the incident and the barrage of reporting on what stands out as one of the biggest crime stories in the territory in decades, would take a couple of days.
Siaumau has had at least three lawyers since he was first charged following the fatal shooting of detective Brown and it’s taken nearly six years to move the case to trial.
The defendant faces 14 charges, the most serious of which is first degree murder and two counts of first degree attempted murder when Siaumau allegedly fired at two other cops at the scene.
Members of the media who were outside the court room when the shooting took place are among those subpoenaed for the trial, which will be heard in Associate Justice Lyle Richmond’s court.
KHJ News understands that a jury pool of more than 200 has been called for jury selection.
Brown left behind a young widow Aliileleitumua Sonoma Brown and children.
Mrs Brown passed away last week, succumbing to cancer before the case of her husband’s alleged killer could be adjudicated.
