Jury selection began Monday in the second trial of Dominick Dennard Jr., who is charged with the January 2002 murder of Syracuse University graduate student Simeon Popov.

Assistant District Attorney Nicholas DeMartino and Dennard’s defense team appeared before Onondaga County Judge Joseph Fahey to screen prospective jurors. By Tuesday night, 10 jurors had been selected, DeMartino said. He expects that the full slate of 12 jurors and four alternates will be picked by the end of today. The jury will begin hearing testimony Thursday, he said.

Dennard’s first trial ended in a mistrial June 23 with the jury deadlocked in a 7-5 split. Dennard is accused of fatally shooting Popov while robbing an SU student’s apartment. Popov, a Bulgarian student working towards his master’s degree in trombone performance in the Setnor School of Music, walked in on the robbery while delivering chicken wings from Dorian’s Gourmet Pizza and Deli.

During the selection process, DeMartino told prospective jurors not to expect a great deal of forensic evidence, telling them to rely instead on the witnesses’ testimony.

‘This case is going to boil down to a bunch of witnesses coming in and telling you things,’ he said.

The defense team declined to comment on the case until the jury had been selected.

While DeMartino could not say how the prosecution’s case will differ in this trial, he said that he interviewed jurors from the first trial to uncover some of the obstacles that led to the deadlock.

Popov’s parents will be in Syracuse for the second trial, DeMartino said. They attended most of the first trial but were forced to return to Bulgaria before the jury had finished deliberating.

Published on January 13, 2004 at 12:00 pm