Vega trial set to begin today
After choosing from two large groups, jury chosen and opening arguments to begin
Opening arguments are scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday in the trial of a Troy man accused of killing a woman and her unborn child in Lansingburgh in April 2014, then trying to burn down her home to cover the homicide.
Jury selection was completed late Tuesday afternoon in Rens- selaer County Court in the trial of Gabriel Vega, 19, in the death of Vanessa Milligan, 19, and their unborn daughter, Alina Brielle, on April 3, 2014, after the court exhausted one pool of about 200 potential jurors and a second pool of about the same size was brought in for the afternoon.
Prosecuting Assistant District Attorney Andrew Botts and de-
fense attorney Frederick Rench of Clifton Park were only able to agree on three jurors in the morning session after selecting five for the jury Monday.
They were able to select seven other panelists Tuesday afternoon before
settling on one final juror after an expedited screening late in the day.
Police say Vega killed Milligan just days before she was to give birth to their daughter, then set fire to the apartment Milligan shared with her grandmother at 271 5th Ave. to try to cover up the crime.
The fire caused extensive damage to both that
building and a neighboring home at 269 5th Ave.
Vega was indicted by grand jury on charges of second-degree murder, second- and third-degree arson and first-degree abortion and could face a sentence of as much as life in prison if convicted. He was picked up Oct. 22, 2014, six months after Milligan’s death, by federal
marshals on Central Avenue in Albany and has been held in the Rensselaer County jail since his arrest.
Police described Vega as a “classic psychopath” at the time of his arrest and said investigators had built “an overwhelmingly strong case” against him. Prosecutors, however, said that while he was charged with murder in Milligan’s death, he could only be charged with abortion in the death of their daughter because the baby had yet to be born and state law did not allow a murder charge in the death of an unborn child.