Jury Selection Today In Thompson Murder Trial

Jury selection begins today in the murder trial of Edwin Thompson. Thompson is facing a second degree murder charge in the death of Ryan Treadway in November of 2009. Treadway was found in a pool of blood behind the Bradfield Leary Center in Huron, a facility for individuals with mental illness. Thompson was found not competent to stand trial in May of 2010. During a follow-up hearing in November of 2010, Thompson was found competent to aid in his own defense and court proceedings resumed. The trial is scheduled to end Friday. Should the trial make it to Friday, it will mark the first time the media will be allowed to use an audio recorder to tape court proceedings in a South Dakota trial court under new rules adopted by the State Supreme Court. Still photographs will also be permitted. The request was approved at a motions hearing last week. During that same hearing, Dr. Frank Dame, a clinical psychologist, testified Thompson suffers from chronic schizophrenic paranoia, what Dame calls the most severe type of the mental illness. The death of Treadway is the only one of four homicides in Huron in 2009 to go to trial. Plea deals were reached in 2010 in the other three. John LeGrand is appealing his manslaughter conviction to the South Dakota Supreme Court.