Just 12 days from today, on Monday June 4, Nantucket Superior Court will be overflowing with potential jurors, photographers, reporters, lawyers, family members and witnesses as it becomes the scene of the first island murder trial since 1983. Thomas Toolan, III, formerly of Manhattan, will be tried for the Oct. 25, 2004 fatal stabbing of his estranged girlfriend, Elizabeth "Beth" Lochtefeld, in her Hawthorne Lane cottage.

Because the island's police station has only a holding cell, the sheriff's department will fly Toolan back and forth daily from the Barnstable House of Correction where he has been incarcerated without bail since he was arrested in Rhode Island the afternoon of the murder.

Island police will handle security issues outside the town building. A new metal detector and search process is now in use on the second floor of the building where the courtroom is located. Security inside the building and within the courtroom will be administered and supervised by Barnstable authorities. Court officers have been scheduled to serve for three consecutive weeks in the event the trial is long-lasting.

According to Superior Court magistrate Pat Church, Judge Richard Connon has requested that 75 jurors report each day for three days starting on June 4 until a panel of 16 is chosen. Because the courthouse has limited space, jurors will need to sit in the courtroom itself during the selection process. Because District Court business must be taken care of first, on June 4 the Superior Court jurors will not be brought in until approximately 10 a.m. or possibly later.

Judge Connon is allowing still cameras and a restricted number of TV video cameras in the courtroom during trial proceedings, but no cameras will be allowed during jury selection. The judge plans to meet with the media at the end of the day June 4 to discuss camera positioning and answer any questions the press may have about trial coverage.

Toolan's attorney, Kevin Reddington of Brockton, filed a motion seeking to change the trial venue off Nantucket because he maintains there has been too much island publicity to allow for an impartial jury. Judge Connon seems confident a jury will be chosen here and selected within a reasonable amount of time. If that is not the case, the judge will hear Reddington's motion and decide on a change of venue.

Reddington intends to present an

insanity defense. I