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Jury selected for Pa. murder trial

May 10, 2005|by DON AINES

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - A jury and four alternates were selected Monday in Franklin County Court for the upcoming trial of a Chambersburg man charged with the 2002 stabbing death of his estranged wife.

The trial of William Edward Cleary, 31, of 137 E. Garfield St., is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Monday before Judge John R. Walker, according to the Franklin County District Attorney's Office.

The trial is scheduled to run through May 20, according to Public Defender Michael Toms.

Cleary is charged by Pennsylvania State Police with first-degree murder in the July 6, 2002, death of Teresa Jean Cleary, 33, outside her Fayetteville, Pa., home. The stabbing was witnessed by several people, according to police records.

Cleary, who was hospitalized after the incident for injuries police indicated were self-inflicted, has been in custody since the day of Teresa Cleary's death.

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If convicted of the charge, Cleary will be sentenced to a mandatory life sentence under Pennsylvania law. A jury could also decide to convict him of a lesser degree of homicide or manslaughter, or acquit him of the charge.

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