By PAUL MICKLE
TRENTON — Both sides think a jury will finally be selected in time to start opening arguments Friday in the trial of a camera-shy mom claiming she killed her boyfriend in self-defense.
Ivelis Turell, on trial for allegedly killing her boyfriend Michael Whitaker, tries to avoid having her picture taken at the Mercer County Criminal Courthouse.
In the fourth day of a search for 12 jurors and two alternates, the judge ordered another few dozen potential jurors brought in for screening to fill the last spots on the panel to decide the fate of Ivelis Turell.
She’s the mother charged with killing boyfriend Michael Whitaker in May of 2007 during a struggle over a gun in which she also was shot. It happened in the new home they shared on Ferry Street in Trenton.
A previous judge tossed out the charges, saying it was a case of self-defense. Turell’s previous lawyer, Tim Smith of upstate Fairfield, said Whitaker was inclined to rages and often made the woman play Russian Routlette.
Turell, who was wearing a brown pants suit that matched brownish red hair Thursday, would not consent to have her picture taken in court by The Trentonian when the judge gave permission. But she was snapped earlier today leaving the courthouse.