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Potential McCoy Jurors Face Questions

In the first day of questioning, more than 100 potential jurors in the "Highway Shooter" case are being called in groups of six as prosecutors and defense attorneys work to find a panel to hear the case of Charles McCoy.

Potential jurors got their first face-to-face look at defendant Charles McCoy.

He sat at the defense table, mostly motionless with hands resting on his lap, feet-crossed, dressed in Franklin County jail clothes with sandals on his feet.

Assistant Prosecutor Doug Stead told the first group he is looking for people who can follow the law as it exists, including possibly sentencing McCoy to be executed.

Stead and lead defense attorney Michael Miller used information from a lengthy questionnaire filled out by each individual in the jury pool to closely examine personal views on capital punishment and pre-trial publicity.

Among the first group of four men and two women, none said they came to a conclusion about McCoy's guilt or innocence based on what they knew or heard of the case.

Two of the four men said their views on capital punishment would prevent them from considering a death sentence. At the end of the first 90-minute session, Judge Charles Schneider dismissed three of the potential jurors....two because they opposed the death penalty and another because his knowledge of the case might affect his deliberations.

McCoy faces a possible death sentence if convicted of charges in a series of shootings along and near interstate highways in Central Ohio, including a charge he killed a Washington Court House woman while she was riding in a car on the south outerbelt.

He has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity.