Last Updated: Wednesday, June 27, 2001, 11 a.m.

Fitzhugh jury questioning turns to media coverage
Potential jurors will be polled this afternoon

Potential jurors in the murder trial of Palo Altan Kenneth Fitzhugh will be asked this afternoon about the amount and nature of media coverage they have been exposed to in the year since Fitzhugh allegedly killed his wife Kristine.

A total of about 160 potential jurors have been called so far, with many being excused from serving by Judge Franklin Elia, for a variety of reasons from vacation plans to caring for a disabled relative.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Fletcher, and defense attorney Thomas Nolan will continue the process of finding impartial and unbiased jurors, those whose opinions haven't been already swayed by the heavy media coverage of the murder.

When the trial begins, as soon as Monday, Fletcher will attempt to convince the chosen men and women that Kenneth Fitzhugh, a husband with no history of domestic violence, hit his wife over the head and strangled her.

Fletcher is expected to claim Kenneth committed the murder because Kristine was about to reveal to their eldest son Justin that his biological father was another man, family friend Robert Brown. In court documents, Fletcher wrote that DNA evidence has proven that Brown is Justin's biological father.

Nolan is expected to argue that an intruder who entered the family's unlocked basement committed the crime, and that a botched police investigation captured the wrong man.

-- Bill D'Agostino and Elizabeth Lorenz