Halder trial to visit campus on Monday
Ted Diadun made some good points in his article this morning commenting on the timing of the story last week which previewed the Halder murder trial. The original article ran last Monday, on the day that jury selection began, and it would be a shame if otherwise impartial potential jurors were eliminated from potential selection just because they had read that article. Fortunately, jury selection is now complete, so I can blog about the events in a limited way.
The judge and jury are scheduled to visit the Peter B. Lewis building tomorrow, to familiarize themselves with the locations of the 7-hour siege allegedly carried out by Halder on May 7, 2003. I was not in the building, but was still affected by the event; here's an old blog I wrote at the first anniversary, after returning from a remembrance ceremony. Professor Collopy has also shared an email archive of the event and its aftermath.
The building will not be accessible tomorrow, presumably so that the jury will not be exposed to any unsolicited statements from individuals during their visit. Also, it is possible that the accused, Halder, will participate in the visit as well, and the dean and the President did not want to expose any survivors from the incident to the possibility of an encounter with him.
I have scheduled office hours tomorrow afternoon, so I will be on campus, but relocated to Wolstein Hall. If you need to find me, please call my voicemail...
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