More than 200 prospective jurors answer questionnaires in Rupert
BY TERRY SMITH
The initial process of selecting an impartial jury for the Keith Eric Blankenship murder trial was started in August and finished earlier this month in Rupert, where the trial was moved following declaration of a mistrial in Blaine County in April.
Blankenship, 52, is charged with felony counts of second-degree murder and evidence concealment in the shooting death of neighbor Stephen Michael Romanchuk, 47, on or about Jan. 20, 2014, at Blankenship’s home on Deer Creek Road north of Hailey. Blankenship turned himself in to the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office on May 14, 2014, and Romanchuk’s body was recovered the following day from where it was partially hidden in a pile of dead leaves and debris. Blankenship has claimed that the shooting, over a money dispute, was in self-defense.
The Minidoka County District Court clerk’s office told The Weekly Sun on Monday that 216 prospective jurors have been summoned to 5th Judicial District Court in Rupert to fill out questionnaires regarding their knowledge of the case and any preconceived notions they may have formed involving guilt or innocence. Prospective jurors filled out questionnaires on Aug. 9 and in a make-up session on Sept. 9.
The questionnaires are now being reviewed by the Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and defense attorney Keith Roark to trim the number of jurors down to a smaller group for final jury selection when the trial starts in Rupert on Sept. 27.
Two similar jury selection processes were implemented in Blaine County prior to the change of venue to Minidoka County. In each case, approximately 180 prospective jurors were called into court. The first occurred in September 2015 when the trial was set to start in Hailey on Oct. 13, 2015. The trial was postponed upon revelation from Roark that he intended to use a professional witness who testified that Blankenship suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from a murder-suicide he witnessed at the age of 12 in 1977 at an East Magic Reservoir bar and restaurant establishment.
In that incident, on July 15, 1977, Blankenship’s stepfather, Dennis Sechrest, 38, shot to death Blankenship’s sister, 14-year-old Dana Blankenship, and bar patron 58-year-old Fred Klamm, of Paul, before shooting himself. Sechrest died the following day at a Boise hospital.
The second attempt at a jury selection took place in Blaine County in March of this year when some 180 prospective jurors filled out questionnaires prior to a trial that started in Hailey on April 12.
Presiding Judge Jonathan P. Brody declared a mistrial during that trial following revelation on the first day of testimony of information not previously known to either the defense or prosecution and which was deemed to be possibly prejudicial to Blankenship.
Brody ordered the trial moved to Minidoka County in May because of the significant media attention given to the case at that point in Blaine County.
Blankenship remains incarcerated in the Blaine County jail on $500,000 bond. He has been held since his arrest on May 14, 2014.