DELAND -- Seven women and five men have been selected to hear evidence today at the capital murder trial of an Edgewater man accused of murdering 21-year-old Lisa Memro of New Smyrna Beach on Sept. 25, 2006, and then having sex with her corpse.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Russell Charles Bradshaw, 22, could face a death sentence. The trial, presided by Circuit Judge James R. Clayton at the Volusia County Courthouse, is expected to last at least a week.
Jury selection began Monday with 125 people. By Tuesday it was down to 82 and midway through Wednesday, stood at 56. But by 5:30 p.m. 1 jurors and two alternates were selected.
Whether Bradshaw, presumed innocent, does not have to testify. He is represented by Rob Sanders and former Circuit Judge Gayle Graziano. They have not indicated whether he will take the stand or if they will present an insanity defense, but in past court motions have laid a foundation that he was not in his right mind and was high on cocaine when he stabbed his victim from ear to ear and having sex with her corpse.
The prosecutors are Matt Foxman and Colleen Taylor, who are expected to portray him as a cold-blooded killer who knew exactly what he was doing, and that even though he acted with a depraved mind, he was sane. The prosecution will also rely heavily on forensic evidence, including defensive wounds on the victim, showing how she suffered up until her last breaths as her attacker cut her throat with a large serrated knife.