Opening statements in Cano trial Monday By SILVIO J. PANTA, Staff Writer
Thursday, January 8, 2009 10:00 PM PST
Opening statements in the murder trial of Kym Cano, the woman charged with fatally shooting her husband — an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer — will begin Monday, attorneys said.
The first day jurors will hear the evidentiary portion of Cano’s second-degree murder trial is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. at the Imperial County Courthouse in downtown El Centro.
The painstaking, two-month effort to seat 12 jurors and six alternates for the highly publicized trial concluded Wednesday afternoon, said Cano’s defense attorney Angelyn Gates.
Jury selection began Nov. 17 but was delayed for several days and at least one week because of the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, Gates said. Three women and nine men sit on the 12-member jury while three men and three women have been seated as alternates, Gates said.
It uncertain for how long the trial will last. But Marco Nuñez, an Imperial County deputy district attorney who is prosecuting the case, said Thursday the case shouldn’t last that long.
“The trial is going to be shorter than the jury selection process was,” Nuñez said. “I expect to have (it done) fairly quickly.”
A good number of the prospective jurors had some connection with Imperial Valley’s law enforcement community.
One such person, who was excluded from serving on the jury, told the court that her son-in-law was an El Centro police officer who was wounded in the face two years ago while in the line of duty.
A juror with some link to law enforcement can remain unbiased, Nuñez said.
“I think people can be fair irrespective of what they do for a living,” Nuñez said. “We’re all human beings.”
Gates said the inclusion of people with ties to local police agencies would not necessarily be a detriment to the defense because law enforcement officials harbor the same strengths and weaknesses regular people have.
“I think the fact that a lot of people (have) family with law enforcement is actually beneficial to us,” Gates said. “They’re people, too.”
Cano, 39, has pleaded not guilty in killing her husband Francisco with his service gun in their Llanos Court home in Calexico on Dec. 4, 2006. She is in custody with bail set at $1 million.
Court records show that shortly after a pair of officers received an 11:30 a.m. call of a shooting and arrived at the residence, Cano reportedly opened the door and said, “I just shot my husband.”
Cano, records state, also told officers she was trying to kill herself when her husband walked in on her. She pointed Francisco’s handgun at him and pulled the trigger, according to transcripts of the preliminary hearing.
A series of pretrial hearings and court motions delayed the trial’s start, which included Cano’s bid to be released to the care of her mother as she recovered from elective back surgery in December 2007.
The surgical procedure done on Cano was to remove a herniated disc and was performed at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego. Cano assumed all the procedure’s expenses.
" JBRAD-Rayo is our old friend DACE35! I can smell a weasel. Check your archives. He was banned 6 months ago for bad spelling and his ridiculous off the wall comments targeting law enforcement. Glorifying drug dealers as he did a few weeks ago with the story on the G-uno guy that was arrested. "
rayodeseeleynoa wrote on Jan 9, 2009 2:48 PM:
" Hey jbrat are you telling me i cant express myself?Are you taking away one of my constitutional rights? I'm just defending myself!Look at previous posts where I've been attacked.If this was the cae you minus well ban everyone! "
jbrad wrote on Jan 9, 2009 1:21 PM:
" Rayo - You are out of line and obviously have nothing of substance to add. Your post will be deleted. One more of these and you're gone from the site. - Brad Jennings, editor. "
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rifi0805 wrote on Jan 9, 2009 10:27 PM: