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WILKES-BARRE — Jury selection in the case against the accused Walmart shooter was originally set to begin Monday afternoon, but has been pushed back to Tuesday morning, following scheduling problems.
Sargent, 32, is accused of firing rounds from a semi-automatic rifle fitted with a scope in the Wilkes-Barre Township Walmart parking lot on Oct. 17, 2015. Bullets struck vehicles and the doors of the store’s auto center before police shot Sargent in the stomach and disarmed him.
The Shenandoah man’s trial is set to start this week, with jury selection originally set to begin at 1:30 p.m. Monday.
But, at around 3 p.m., Luzerne County Judge David Lupas pushed the selection process to Tuesday morning, explaining that there had been scheduling issues caused by the opening of the county’s new central court. Instead, Lupas dubbed the time in front of him as a “housekeeping” exercise.
Defense attorney Melissa Sulima requested that one of the 25 counts against her client, a felony count of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, be severed, explaining the reasoning behind Sargent’s prohibition of gun ownership could prejudice the jury against him.
Assistant District Attorney Jarrett Ferentino raised no issue, and Lupas agreed to sever the charge from the remaining 24.
Sulima also made a request that any law enforcement officers testifying as witnesses dress in plain clothes as opposed to their uniform.
The uniform, she argued, could cause the jury to believe the witnesses purely based on their status as law enforcement, prejudicing them against her client.
Here, Ferentino said that it’s likely any officers would come in plain clothes, unless they were on-duty at the time of their testimony, but he would do what he could to prevent this prejudice.
Lupas asked Ferentino how long he thinks it will take the prosecution to present its case, and Ferentino replied that it would likely take no more than two days if they were moving at a brisk pace.
Jury selection is set to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday.