GREENFIELD — Nearly a hundred Franklin County residents came to the court to potentially be selected to sit in the jury pool for the first half of the 2016 Orange double murder case.
Joshua Hart, 25, is being tried on nine counts, including the murder of Thomas A. Harty, 95, and the fatal wounding of Harty’s 77-year-old wife, Joanna Fisher, during an Oct. 5, 2016, home invasion at 581 East River St., Orange. Hart has pleaded not guilty on all the counts.
After the Hart case, co-defendant Brittany Smith, 29, will be tried in court over the double homicide.
Hart and Smith have pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Hart’s case is expected to begin Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Franklin County Justice Center with Judge John Agostini presiding over the trial. Agostini said he expects for the facts of the case to be presented and then to be put in the hands of the 12-person jury by a week or so from Thursday.
Sitting next to his defense attorney, Hart, sporting a neatly manicured goatee and mustache, with his hair slicked back and wearing a light blue dress shirt with a red striped blue tie, listened to potential jurors answer questions on their possible biases heading into a murder trial. He rarely changed his expression during the process, as the lawyers tried to find a jury.
“There’s no doubt this is a serious case, and we’re looking for very serious jurors,” Agostini said, while questioning one potential juror Monday.
Hart’s defense team repeatedly brought up two chief points of concern on potential jurors: extent of media exposure to the murder and the person’s feeling on if Hart doesn’t testify, whether that leads them to think if he is anymore likely to be guilty; legally, it should not influence a juror’s point of view on guilt if the defendant chooses to not testify.
Hart’s lawyers expressed concern over if someone heard information in the media before Monday. Many potential jurors said they had heard about the murder either through the newspaper or on TV. Some also said they heard about it on Facebook. Hart’s attorney said he was concerned if people read about the case on the online blog “Turtleboy.”
The prosecution alleges that Hart “brutally attacked” Harty while he was in a recliner at the East River Street home and that Hart stabbed and suffocated Harty, leading to his death.
Jeremy Bucci of the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office is representing the prosecution.
The prosecution also alleges Smith attacked Fisher by throwing her out of her wheelchair, stabbing her and attempting to suffocate her. After failing to kill her, according to the commonwealth’s allegations, Hart assisted Smith by stabbing Fisher, suffocating her with a pillow and standing on her chest.
The allegations further explain that Hart and Smith left Fisher, who did not immediately die, on the floor with all phones in the house disabled. Fisher allegedly crawled outside seeking help and finding none, crawled back inside. She remained on the floor in the house for about 12 hours until she was found by a visiting nurse the next day, the prosecutor’s allegations continue.
Hart and Smith allegedly fled to Virginia in Harty’s car they stole, along with credit or debit cards and money.
You can reach
Joshua Solomon at:
jsolomon@recorder.com
413-772-0261, ext. 264