Jury takes shape in murder trial
Toolbox
By Susan Smallheer STAFF WRITER - Published: June 17, 2009
BRATTLEBORO – Potential jurors were closely questioned about their views of pot, pets and guns Tuesday in the second day of jury selection in the murder trial of David C. Boglioli of Wilmington, who is accused of shooting his neighbor to death last August.
Boglioli has pleaded innocent to second-degree murder in the death of George Riccitelli, 51, last Aug. 15, outside their homes in a small development off Greenwich Road in Wilmington.
Boglioli, 60, has claimed he acted in self-defense when he shot Riccitelli in the heart at point-blank range. But police investigators said they found no weapon on Riccitelli, who died at the scene.
David Gartenstein, Windham County deputy state's attorney, and defense attorney Matthew Harnett of Rutland, quizzed the potential jurors for the second day.
They were quizzed on issues ranging from their views of guns, gun control, gun safety, handguns, marijuana, growing marijuana, smoking marijuana, selling marijuana and pets, and not just dogs and cats, but small pets such as hamsters and birds.
"Do you think someone who smokes marijuana is a bad person?" Harnett asked several jurors. Most of the potential jurors said no.
"Does it affect a person's credibility?" he asked. "Does anyone here think owning any kind of gun is wrong?"
One juror said she personally didn't believe that handguns should be legal, but since Vermont had no laws against it, she would accept that.
Harnett wanted to know how many jurors had pets. "Do you believe that pets are people too?" he asked. "Can you appreciate how important pets can be to a person?"
Court records indicate that there were previous bad feelings between Boglioli and Riccitelli, and a long-standing dispute over drugs. Riccitelli allegedly put several pot plants on Boglioli's porch the night before he was killed. Boglioli had thrown the potted pot plants into the road, prompting the confrontation.
On Monday, the jury pool had heard the list of 180 potential witnesses in the case, which included dozens of police officers and detectives from the Vermont State Police, the Wilmington police and the Dover police, as well as many of the residents of the Greenwich Road neighborhood.
Gartenstein said that he didn't expect to call all of the 180 people he read out loud to the group, but that they were potential witnesses and he wanted to avoid any conflicts.
Boglioli, who was living on disability at the time of the alleged murder, has been held at the state prison in Springfield since his arrest. He had lived in Wilmington for the past 12 years, and is a native of Brooklyn.
At the end of the day Tuesday, there were 12 people sitting in the jury box, and only 15 potential jurors left to be questioned. The trial is expected to go forward with at least 15 jurors because of the projected length of the trial, which is estimated to last upwards of three weeks.
"The end is in sight," District Judge Karen R. Carroll told the potential jurors at the end of the day. "We are very close to seating a jury and I expect we'll be hearing some evidence tomorrow."
susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com