Judge adds to the rules for trial

By Peter H. Milliken

News coverage is being restricted to avoid disruption of the trial.

YOUNGSTOWN — Jury selection began Monday afternoon for the highest-profile trial the Mahoning County Courthouse has seen in recent years, and it will resume at 9 a.m. today.

The trial of Taran D. Helms and his girlfriend, Hattie L. Gilbert, in the robbery and shooting that left KFC manager Joseph Kaluza paralyzed has begun under strict regulations concerning press coverage.

Besides the standard prohibitions against naming or photographing potential or seated jurors and against photographing witnesses who don’t want their pictures taken, Judge Timothy E. Franken of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court has established more rules for this trial.

In a written order, Franken said the restrictions are being issued “upon consideration of the public and media interest” and “in order to provide for orderly proceedings.”

The rules say there may be only one TV camera and only one still photographer in the courtroom at any time, that they must be in place and set up 15 minutes before the proceedings start, and they may not use any artificial camera lighting.

Media personnel may not display their identifying logos on their cameras, microphones or clothing, the order adds.

Franken, who was previously an assistant county prosecutor, said he believes this trial is the highest-profile trial in the courthouse since the fall 2003 trial of Martin L. Koliser Jr., who was sentenced to death for the murder of Youngstown Patrolman Michael T. Hartzell. Koliser later committed suicide in prison.

Helms and Gilbert are being tried together in the largest courtroom in the courthouse — the one normally used by Judge Maureen A. Sweeney and formerly used by the 7th District Court of Appeals. The spectator gallery, which is open to the public, has enough benches to seat about 60 people, and no standees will be allowed, the judge said.

“We will have ample security,” the judge said in an interview. “There will be no disruptions or distractions.”

The judge said he chose that courtroom for this trial because of its handicapped accessibility. The judge has ruled that Kaluza, who uses a wheelchair and is paralyzed from the neck down, will be permitted to testify with a nurse beside him. Kaluza is among about 27 witnesses the prosecution plans to call to testify.

Both defendants are charged with attempted murder, felonious assault, aggravated robbery and kidnapping, with firearm specifications to all counts. Both face between six and 50 years in prison if convicted of all counts and specifications.

Helms, 23, of West Hylda Avenue, is charged with robbing and shooting Kaluza. Police said Gilbert, 20, of East Judson Avenue, drove her car in the staged crash that preceded the March 24 robbery and shooting on the city’s South Side.

Kaluza, manager of the KFC on South Avenue, was driving south on South Avenue, when a car cut him off and caused a crash, which was captured by a Western Reserve Transit Authority bus surveillance camera, police said.

The gunman pushed Kaluza’s car a short distance into a Hilton Avenue driveway, demanded money and received the $300 bank deposit. Kaluza was shot in the head and neck.

In addition to the 12 jurors to be seated for the case, there will be two alternates selected, the judge said.

Jury selection started with a panel of 50 potential jurors and lasted about three hours before being suspended until this morning.

At the beginning of the process, the jurors were asked to indicate by a show of hands how many knew anything about this case. Only nine indicated they had no knowledge of the case, and they were sent home and told to return Thursday.

The remaining jurors were being called one at a time into the judge’s chambers to be questioned individually by the judge and the lawyers out of earshot of the remaining jurors.

Each defendant will be allowed to excuse four jurors without giving a reason. The prosecution may excuse eight without giving a reason. An unlimited number of jurors may be excused for good cause. No jurors have been excused yet.

Judge Franken said he will hold a defense motion to move the trial to another county in abeyance until he can determine how or whether potential jurors’ views have been affected by pre-trial publicity and whether an impartial jury can be seated here. Every effort will be made to seat an impartial jury here, the judge said.

“If the media will give me a break, yes, we plan to try this case in Youngstown,” he said.

The case is being prosecuted by Kasey C. Shidel, assistant county prosecutor. Helms’ lawyer is John B. Juhasz. Gilbert’s lawyer is Martin E. Yavorcik.