Jury selection begins in Oquendo trial
Troy woman’s ex-stepfather accused of killing her, deumping body in river
TROY, N.Y. >> Opening arguments could begin as soon as this afternoon in the trial of a man accused of killing his former stepdaughter, stuffing her body in a suitcase and dumping it into the Hudson River nearly two years ago.
Nine jurors were selected Monday for the trial of Johnny Oquendo, who is charged with second-degree murder, criminal obstruction of breathing and unlawful concealment of a human corpse in the death of Noel Alkaramla. State Supreme Court Judge Andrew Ceresia, who is presiding over the trial, said at the end of Monday’s session he expects opening arguments to begin at 3 p.m. Tuesday, though that is contingent on prosecutor Andrew Botts of the Rensselaer County District Attorney’s Office and defense attorney William Roberts agreeing on three more jurors and four alternates earlier in the day.
After Ceresia pared down the initial group of about 150 prospective jurors to 51 on Monday morning, Roberts and Botts quizzed those remaining in the afternoon, agreeing on six men and three women to hear the case. Botts focused his questioning on issues such as distinguishing between intent and motive, judging witness credibility and defining reasonable doubt.
“This is a serious crime,” Botts told one of three groups of potential jurors screened Monday. “This is not someone stealing a pocketbook. Somebody took the life of another human being.”
Roberts, meanwhile, quizzed potential jurors on the prosecution’s burden of proof and whether they would prejudge someone simply for choosing not to testify in their own defense.
“Close enough isn’t good
enough in this courtroom,” Roberts said of the prosecution’s need to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. “This isn’t horseshoes or hand grenades.”
Alkaramla’s nude body was pulled from the Hudson River near the USS Slater in Albany on Dec. 29, 2015,
more than a month after she disappeared after leaving work about 10 p.m. Nov. 21, 2015, from Verdile’s restaurant in Lansingburgh. The only sign of Alkaramla after she was captured that night on surveillance video while leaving Verdile’s was some personal items found the next morning near her home in the area of Washington and 4th streets.
A co-worker told investigators, however, that they
had given Alkaramla a ride to Oquendo’s apartment at 170 3rd St. that night. A neighbor of Oquendo, meanwhile, told investigators they heard loud arguing from Oquendo’s apartment the evening Alkaramla disappeared, followed by loud banging and screams, and another neighbor said they saw Oquendo a short time later struggling to remove a large suitcase from his apartment.
Oquendo has been held in the Rensselaer County jail on a parole violation since Dec. 4, 2016, after being identified as the prime suspect in the case based on a statement by Alkaramla’s fiancée, Sara Moore, that Alkaramla was supposed to meet Oquendo after leaving her job that night. Moore killed herself June 24, with her body found by police inside her Troy home.
Investigators have not
publicly offered a motive for the killing, but Botts reminded possible jurors he is not required to provide a motive for Oquendo killing Alkaramla, the daughter of Oquendo’s ex-wife, to prove him guilty.
“The law doesn’t require me to prove why he did it,” Botts said to one of the groups of jurors, “only that he intended to do it.”
The trial has twice been delayed after initially being scheduled to begin Sept. 18, first because of a death in Botts’ family and then after Roberts challenged the prosecution’s plan to use Google location services on Oquendo’s cellphone to pinpoint his location at various times on the night Alkaramla disappeared. Ceresia found for the defense on that petition, ruling the Google service has yet to be general accepted as a reliable source of evidence.