Jury Selection Begins for the Rosendo Rodriguez Trial
By: Lauren Murphy
Updated: January 23, 2008
Jury selection began in the capital murder trial of Rosendo Rodriguez, the man accused of killing 29-year old Summer Baldwin and her unborn child.
Court officials summoned three times more jurors than they normally do.
Of the one hundred eighty people that showed up, the judge hopes to find fourteen suitable jurors.
Back in 2005, Vence Uribe uncovered a dead body stuffed inside a suitcase at the lubbock landfill, which turned out to be Summer Baldwin.
"When I opened it up I saw her toes curled up and her named tattooed on her ankle," said Uribe.
Police traced the suitcase back to Rosendo Rodriguez.
After his arrest, Rodriguez confessed to the murder of Joanna Rogers, who was sixteen at the time of her death.
As part of a deal, he told authorities she was also stuffed inside a suitcase in the landfill.
Then, he was expected to plead guilty to Baldwin's murder to avoid the death penalty, but he backed out of the deal at the last minute.
And now, Rosendo Rodriguez is headed to trial, and the death penalty is back on the table.
Jury selection normally takes just a day, but this process will take four to six weeks.
Starting on monday, the judge and the attorneys will meet individually with the potential jurors for questioning.
If they are unable to find a suitable jury, the case will be tried outside of Lubbock County.
