CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — The attorneys appointed to represent Lena Marie Lunsford Conaway filed a motion this week to obtain a publicly funded jury consultant.
“We’ve got a very opinionated potential jury panel down there in Lewis County, and we have concerns about Ms. Lunsford’s ability to get a fair trial there,” Tom Dyer said Friday.
Tom and Zach Dyer, representing the 34-year-old former Lewis County native, are hoping, if Judge Jacob Reger approves, the results of this study will provide the necessary evidence to grant their client a change of venue.
“I don’t think anybody involved with the case down at the Courthouse in Lewis County would deny that it’s highly unlikely we’ll be able to pick a jury out of Lewis County,” Dyer said. “So, we’re going to try to address the issue way ahead of time and try to keep a Fall trial date — just in a new location.”
The motion filed Thursday would permit West Virginia Public Defenders Services to fund a jury consultant for between $7,520 and $10,650 plus expenses. The consultant would organize a study to determine what number of residents that make up a potential jury pool already have made a determination on Lunsford-Conaway’s guilt or innocence.
“It’s more than apparent that most people have a well-settled, pre-conceived notion or opinion about Ms. Lunsford’s guilt,” Dyer said.
Jury selection is presently scheduled to begin October 10. The trial would tentatively begin October 12. However, Dyer said a failure to seat a jury at the October 10 selection hearing would result in a financial loss for taxpayers and another five to eight month delay in a potential trial.
“Otherwise, the general rule of thumb for a court when addressing these kind of issues is simply wait to the day of trial and see if you can pick a jury in the county where venue originally lies,” he said.
“Of course, you’ll have some percentage of people that just want on the jury and will not be genuine their responses to whether or not they have already formulated opinions.”
Dyer expects Judge Reger to set a hearing to rule on the motion next week.
If the motion is approved, there is no threshold or precedent required for a judge to use this information on a change of venue motion. Dyer said it’s simply additional information for Judge Reger to use. Ideally, Dyer said, the trial would be moved to the far Eastern Panhandle or into southwest West Virginia.
Police extradited Lunsford-Conaway following her arrest in Pinellas County, Florida last November on charges related to the 2011 death and disappearance of her then three-year-old daughter Aliayah Lunsford.
Lunsford Conaway is charged with murder of a child by parent by failure to provide necessities, death of a child by parent by child abuse, child abuse resulting in injury, and concealment of a dead body.
If convicted on the murder by withholding charge, she would face life in prison.
The criminal complaint alleges that Lunsford-Conaway hit Aliayah in the morning hours of September 24, 2011 with an object. The failure to provide assistance than resulted in Aliayah’s reported death.
Remains have not been discovered.