Beacon Journal staff report
Jury selection continued Wednesday in the Summit County trial of Craigslist murder suspect Richard James Beasley of Akron.
Beasley, 53, could face the death penalty if he is convicted of any of the most serious charges in his capital indictment. He is facing three aggravated murder counts — each carrying a death-penalty specification — and other crimes for allegedly concocting a plot to lure three men to their deaths.
Authorities have said the three murder victims, along with a fourth man who managed to escape after being shot in the elbow, answered a series of Craigslist ads in 2011 for a nonexistent farm job in Noble County in southern Ohio. The victims were caught totally unaware of the plot Beasley and his co-defendant, Brogan Rafferty of Stow, hatched against them.
Individual juror questioning began Tuesday. A court official said additional general questioning of potential jurors is scheduled to begin Monday morning, followed by opening statements.
Common Pleas Judge Lynne Callahan is handling the case.
Rafferty, who was 16 at the time of the crimes, was convicted of three counts of aggravated murder last year. Callahan sentenced him to life in prison with no chance of parole.