Three jurors selected in first-degree murder trial

• By KORAN ADDO
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: May 13, 2008 - Page: 2B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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A jury deciding whether a man accused in the 2006 killing of a Olive Garden restaurant worker deserves to die or spend his life in prison is like taking a frightening leap, a prosecutor said Monday.

Before the end of the day, attorneys for the defense and prosecution tentatively agreed on three jurors in the first-degree murder trial of Sanchez L. Brumfield of Baton Rouge.

Jury selection is scheduled to resume today.

Brumfield, 23, 10950 Darryl Drive, also has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery in the September 2006 shooting.

Police have said Brumfield and an accomplice, Tracy Young, 30, 5756 Satinwood Drive, fatally shot 21-year-old Aaron Arnold in the rear parking lot of the Olive Garden restaurant at 6911 Siegen Lane.

Arnold, an LSU student, was helping fellow employee, Dionne Grayson, 28, fill her car with gasoline, when they were shot. Grayson survived.

While interviewing a panel of potential jurors Monday, prosecutor Aaron Brooks likened a jury’s decision to render the death penalty to a child standing on a lofty diving board, calculating the distance to the water below, and then deciding whether to jump.

“If your brain tells you he should die, can you not let your heart get in the way?” Brooks asked the panel. “I need someone not afraid to jump off that diving board.”

On the other hand, defense attorneys Bruce Craft and Fred Kroenke, said they are looking for a juror with a strong enough conviction to save their client’s life. “We’re looking for the juror who will hold out for a life sentence in the face of 11 other jurors pounding on them,” Craft said.

Of the 14 potential jurors questioned so far it is unclear whether prosecutors or defense attorneys found any jurors that match their wish list.

One of the three tentatively selected, a white woman who works at an architectural firm, was questioned extensively about a past incident when an acquaintance shot off her toe.

The woman assured Brooks that she is no longer bitter over the incident, which occurred outside Baton Rouge. Although her acquaintance did not stand trial for the shooting, the woman said that she does not hold a bias against prosecutors in general.

The other two potential jurors, a male ExxonMobil retiree and a female office manager of an insurance defense firm — both white people — told Craft they would consider Brumfield’s alleged rough upbringing, but said a troubled childhood does not excuse a violent crime committed as an adult.