The jury for the murder trial of Thomas Toolan, III, accused of killing

Elizabeth "Beth" Lochtefeld on Oct. 25, 2004, will be seated tomorrow

in Nantucket Superior Court.
After three pools of jurors were brought

in from Monday through today and questioned about their ability to

serve impartially while hearing the facts in the case, today a total

pool of 47 were left of 175 called for jury duty. A jury of 16 is

needed for the trial to begin. The defense attorney is permitted an

automatic 16 challenges to eliminate jurors without cause and as many

more as he can show cause to challenge.
If a jury panel is sworn in

tomorrow the trial will begin tomorrow afternoon or Friday morning. If

a 16-man jury cannot be chosen, the trial judge will rule on the

defense attorney's motion to change the trial venue to the mainland.

• The judge, in the presence and with the consent of both the prosecuting and defense attorneys, and the defendant Thomas Toolan, asked the following questions of each juror who was not initially excused.

• Have you or any member of your family or a close friend ever been the victim of domestic abuse or violence of any kind? If so, please explain.

• Do you belong to any organizations or groups that assist victims of domestic violence? If so, what groups, and what was the extent of your involvement.

• Have you or any member of your family suffered from emotional or psychiatric issues? If so, have you received any treatment an/or medication? Please tell me what diagnosis, treatment and/or medications you have had.

• Do you understand that a defendant does not have to testify at a trial? The government has the burden of proving every element of each offense and the defendant has no burden to produce evidence, or even interact during the trial.

• Do you believe that a defendant should testify at a trial? If he does not choose to testify would you hold that against him at all?

• Do you have any feelings about defense attorneys? Do you have any feelings about prosecutors? If so, please explain.

• Have you ever visited the crime scene after the homicide of Ms. Lochtefeld?

Daily updates of The Toolan Trial at www.acknews.com

There must be 16 jurors for the trial to begin, with four as alternates in case someone needs to be excused during the process. Because the defense is allowed to challenge 16 jurors without reason and more if reason is found, it is possible the judge may rule Wednesday on Toolan's attorney's latest motion to change the trial venue to the mainland. The attorney, Kevin Reddington, argues that extensive publicity about the island case makes it impossible for his client to receive a fair trial on Nantucket. Judge Richard F. Connon told the press yesterday that he will release the individual questions and juror's responses.

Pick up tomorrow's Nantucket Independent for complete trial coverage.