MERCER COUNTY Jury seating starts in counselor's killing

Authorities said the counselor died after being attacked during an escape.
MERCER, Pa. -- Jury selection is proceeding slowly in the murder trial of Jeremy Melvin, 17, of McKeesport, one of two teens accused of killing a night security counselor at George Junior Republic.
Prosecutors thought Melvin would enter a plea Monday morning in the slaying of Wayne Urey, 43, of Mercer, but that didn't happen and jury selection began shortly after 1 p.m.
Timothy Bonner, an assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, said the process moved slowly as Judge Thomas Dobson of Mercer County Common Pleas Court, who is hearing the case, asked prospective jurors about their knowledge of it.
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So many people said they had heard or read about the slaying that it took some time to determine if they believed they could fairly judge the case on evidence presented in court, Bonner said.
Individual juror questions by the prosecution and defense attorneys was expected to begin this afternoon, and Bonner estimated it could take a couple of days to seat a jury.
Melvin and Anthony Machicote, 17, of North Versailles, Pa., are charged as adults in Urey's slaying Nov. 10, 2003.
They face counts of criminal homicide, robbery, theft, conspiracy, aggravated assault and escape.
Both had been sent by courts to George Junior Republic, a detention and education center for juvenile males near Grove City.
Boys sent to the center live in groups in cottages. Authorities said Melvin and Machicote plotted to escape by attacking a night security counselor and stealing a vehicle.
Authorities said the two attacked and beat Urey, leaving him bound and gagged. They took the keys to his pickup truck and $3 from his wallet and then fled in the truck to Pittsburgh, where they surrendered later in the day after learning Urey was dead.
Both have been held in custody since their arrest.
Urey died of asphyxiation consistent with suffocation and strangulation and suffered multiple rib fractures, fractures to the bones in his neck and injuries to his head, trunk and extremities, an autopsy report says.