Jury Selection Set to Resume This Morning in Trial of Retired Phoenix Bishop
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Jury selection is set to resume this morning in the trial of a retired Phoenix bishop. Thomas O'Brien has been charged with leaving the scene of a fatal hit and run accident. CNN's Frank Buckley brings us up to date.</s>FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thanks to an immunity deal, Bishop Thomas O'Brien had just avoided prosecution on obstruction of justice charges for allegedly protecting priests accused of molestation when he was arrested for what happened here. On a Saturday evening in June, 43-year-old Jim Reed was hit by a car. Police say the person who did it didn't stop.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, you are Thomas J. O'Brien?</s>THOMAS J. O'BRIEN: Yes, sir.</s>BUCKLEY: O'Brien was arrested after they went to his home the following Monday and found his car, the windshield shattered and caved in. O'Brien pled not guilty.</s>GARY LOWENTHAL, PROFESSOR OF LAW, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY: The issue in this case is whether or not the bishop was aware that he struck a human being.</s>BUCKLEY: And now jury selection is under way and it'll be a challenge, say experts, to find 12 impartial jurors in a community where publicity over the bishop's legal troubles has been intense.</s>LOWENTHAL: It is very difficult to know what a juror will or will not put out of his or her mind when the juror says oh, I can be fair, I can be impartial, I can decide this matter just on the facts.</s>BUCKLEY (on camera): The reason that is important, if the defense can provide a reasonable explanation as to why Bishop O'Brien continued driving that night, it might persuade jurors to return a not guilty verdict. On the other hand, if Bishop O'Brien is found guilty of the crime, he faces anywhere from probation to nearly four years in prison. Frank Buckley, CNN, Phoenix.