Sep 9, 2005 9:36 am US/Central
What's Expected In The Trial Of Chai Soua Vang
by David Schechter
(WCCO)
Jurors have been selected for the trial of Chai Soua Vang, the man accused of killing six deer hunters in Wisconsin last year.
His trial will be watched across the country and some are offering their insights on what can be expected during the trial.
Vang, 36, faces six counts of first-degree intentional homicide and three counts of attempted homicide.
Prosecutors said he opened fire on a hunting party in the woods of Northern Wisconsin last November after the hunters confronted him for trespassing.
Vang said he acted in self-defense.
Joe Daly is an attorney and law professor at Hamline University.
"This trial will raise national interest," Daly said. "This will be one of the trials that people follow all over the country."
At the request of the county where the crime happened, Wisconsin's top attorney is prosecuting the case.
In her quest to prove beyond a reasonable doubt Vang intended to kill, the Attorney General is expected to show pictures of the six victims when they were alive during her opening statement.
She has also asked the judge for permission to show graphic crime-scene photos and video of the victims' bodies.
"Most people have never seen the face of a person who has just been murdered and so when you begin showing that, you realize, this is the person," Daly said. "It has an unbelievable impact."
Vang's attorneys are expected to argue self-defense. It will then be their job to prove Vang reasonably believed he was in great danger, even facing death.
"He'll argue that the adrenaline was flowing so greatly because he felt he was surrounded by armed people," Daly explained.
The defense said the two deer hunters who survived the fatal shootings gave differing accounts of what happened.
The defense attorneys will try to discredit their testimony, but the defense must also prove that there was no let-up in the threat.
"Even if he can prove that he reasonably believed that he was facing great bodily harm or death, even if he can prove that, he still has to prove that they didn't break it off," Daly explained.
As for the jury, because of the publicity and possible anti-Hmong sentiment in the area, the jurors are being selected from 300 miles away. They will be sequestered in a hotel with no television, phones or computers.
The trial is scheduled to begin Saturday and will likely go on for two weeks. The entire trial will be broadcast live by Court TV.
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