Jury selected for Capital Gazette shooting case

A jury was seated in the Capital Gazette shooting case Friday afternoon, bringing to a conclusion a process that exposed the challenges of finding fair jurors from a close-knit community which was rattled by the 2018 massacre.

Almost three years later, the trial to determine whether the man who killed Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith and Wendi Winters was sane at the time is imminent.

Picking from a pool of 80 jurors qualified by Circuit Court Judge Michael Wachs, prosecutors and defense lawyers settled on a panel of eight men and four women.

Jarrod Ramos, 41, already pleaded guilty to his crimes. Now, this jury will be charged with determining whether he’s criminally responsible or not. Opening statements are scheduled to begin Tuesday morning.

At trial, the jurors will have to decide whether Ramos was suffering during the attack from a mental disorder which prevented him from understanding that killing people was illegal or which precluded him from stopping himself. The verdict will result in him either spending the rest of his life in prison or being committed indefinitely to a psychiatric hospital, where there’s a chance of release.

Among the jurors are a former therapist, a Navy veteran, the son of a social worker and a person with a masters in biology and public health.

The attorneys also chose six alternates made up of four women and two men. They include a Washington, D.C., radio journalist, a full-time nanny, a former school employee who interacted with Wendi Winters and a self-described content creator who at the time of the shooting worked at a mall across the street.

Wachs told the jurors they had to rely only on information obtained in court. He implored them to avoid media coverage of the trial.

Roughly 200 people arrived for jury duty in groups of 50 in the morning and afternoon Wednesday and Thursday. Wachs read a list of 40 questions to each group, probing people’s knowledge about the case and teasing out biases about guns, mental health, journalism and the insanity defense.

Almost all prospective jurors, including those selected, acknowledged knowing something about the case from reading, listening to or watching the news on June 28, 2018, or in the aftermath of the attack on the Capital Gazette, which is part of Baltimore Sun Media. In more personal follow-up questioning, most said their knowledge came from preliminary coverage.

Still, some had come to conclusions about Ramos’ culpability.

One prospective juror said he learned the gunman barricaded the side door to the newsroom.

“I don’t think that has something to do with an insane person,” he said.

“In my mind, in my heart,” another added, “if you kill somebody, you go to jail.”

They were among those Wachs dismissed because of their preconceived notions. Wachs said video of the shooting from newsroom cameras and autopsy photos would be presented to the jury.

Even in a random drawing from the county’s roughly 580,000 residents, it was difficult to escape the reach of The Capital and its journalists.

To prevent conflicts of interest, Wachs read the names of all the casualties, survivors and people who would be called as witnesses. The potential jurors were asked to stand if they recognized any names.

A person who worked in local athletics stood for McNamara, the acclaimed sportswriter. Nine people stood for Winters, the prolific community storyteller.

The connections ranged from Facebook acquaintances to teachers at schools, where she highlighted exceptional students, to members of her church.

One woman said Winters profiled two of her children for her Teen of the Week series and walked through their house for Home of the Week. After a family tragedy, Winters visited this woman. The family had attended blood drives arranged in Winters’ honor.

The juror assured Wachs she could remain impartial and the judge was inclined to keep her in the pool. But Public Defender Matt Connell made an impassioned case why the woman should be dismissed, highlighting the potential of her seeing graphic evidence related to her friend.

It was one of the only times Wachs dismissed a juror at the defense’s request. Four people with connections to Winters made the pool of 80 qualified jurors, one of whom became an alternate.

Plenty of others had ties to local law

enforcement, including officers first to respond to the active shooter at 888 Bestgate Road. One person was related to the Anne Arundel County Police Department’s resident mental health expert. Another person coached one of the state’s attorney’s sons. One man was the son and namesake of a correctional officer set to testify.

Wachs asked questions about people who had strong feelings about mass shootings and a fraction of people stood up.

A college student said she “grew up in the era of mass shootings” and was especially affected by the Parkland High School shooting, which occurred while she was in high school.

“My wife’s a teacher, you think about that sort of thing,” said another man.

Jury selection also confirmed the trauma of the newspaper shooting spread wider than those affiliated with it.

Years later, multiple prospective jurors still remembered where they were when the shooting happened.

One man who worked at Anne Arundel Medical Center recalled driving on Bestgate Road when he witnessed a rush of flashing lights and sirens. Another was eating lunch at a restaurant nearby. Others recounted news helicopters circling above.

Some had doctors appointments scheduled in the office building and later heard from medical staff who barricaded their doors. One woman recalled buying a house that day from a newspaper advertising representative.

“My doctor’s office was in that building,” a potential juror said. “It was a community event.”