Trial lawyers in Arapahoe County excused 140 prospective jurors out of a pool of 177 before finding 13 people who will decide the fate of a man charged with assisting in his daughter’s suicide then killing his wife after her suicide attempt failed.
Unable to seat a jury last week after questioning 68 people, the lawyers questioned an unusually large pool of 109 jurors Monday, excusing 72 of them before agreeing on a panel at 7:30 p.m.
Today, they will hear opening arguments in the case of Phillip Effland, 57, charged with first-degree murder and assisting two suicides, stemming from a suicide pact he allegedly made with his wife and daughter last August.
According to police, the three took pills to kill themselves, but Effland woke up a few hours later. His daughter was dead, but his wife was still alive. So, according to authorities, Effland shot his wife twice in the head, killing her, then ingested more pills.
On Monday, nearly half of the unseated pool said they had a family member or a friend attempt suicide. Roughly one in 10 had a family member or a friend who committed suicide; and one said she had tried to kill herself three times.
Roughly one in four potential jurors said they never would condone suicide for any reason. A majority said their acceptance of suicide would depend on the circumstances, most agreeing that a terminal illness might justify it.
Only a handful said suicide would be justified for depression or hardship.
“My religious beliefs make suicide wrong for me,” said one woman in her 30s. “Assisted suicide is doubly bad for me.”
A man in his 50s, who eventually was seated on the jury, said: “Suicide is a very selfish act. It’s never a way out. I’d vote against it all around, even for assisted suicide, under any circumstances.”
A female student in her 30s said, “There’s plenty of help out there. Assisted suicide makes me think that person didn’t love the other person very much. They should have helped in another way.”
One man recalled the Terri Schiavo case in which Schiavo’s husband fought his in- laws to allow his comatose wife to die by removing her feeding tube. “It becomes very confused,” he said. “Some want it while others don’t. You need to know the circumstances of each case.”
Staff writer Mike McPhee can be reached at 303- 820-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com.
