Jury set for trial of Ohioan charged in 11 deaths

CLEVELAND (AP) — A jury has been seated in the Cleveland trial of a man charged with killing 11 women and hiding their bodies in his home and backyard.

Court administrator Greg Popovich says the jury and four alternates were sworn in today in the trial of 51-year-old Anthony Sowell in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. It took nearly three weeks to seat the jury from a pool of about 200 prospective jurors.

Popovich says jurors were ordered to return after a lunch break for further instructions.

On Wednesday, the prosecution asked the judge to declare a mistrial and start over, saying flawed jury selection procedures put any conviction at risk of being overturned on appeal. The judge refused.

Sowell has pleaded not guilty. He faces the death penalty if convicted.