Olathe ? After nearly three weeks of intense questioning, attorneys are prepared to select a jury to hear the multiple murder case against John E. Robinson Sr.

A pool of 65 jurors will return today to Judge John Anderson III’s courtroom, where 12 jurors and five alternates will be chosen. The trial is scheduled to begin Monday with opening statements and the first witnesses on the stand.

Robinson, 58, is charged in Kansas with killing three women, including two who were found in barrels on his property in Linn County.

He also is charged in Missouri with killing two women and a girl who were found in barrels in a Raymore, Mo., storage locker. Robinson could face the death penalty in both states.

Eighteen jurors were excused, including 11 on Thursday, because of their answers regarding testimony from law enforcement officials, jurors’ aversion to particularly graphic material and biases based on Robinson’s admitted extramarital affairs and practice of sex involving bondage, discipline and sadomasochism.

Patrick Berrigan, an attorney for Robinson, described the state’s burden of proof and said “close enough” was not reason to find for guilt or to sentence Robinson to death.

“Common sense can’t fill in the blanks if they’re missing,” Berrigan said.

He also said that regardless of personal beliefs, jurors could not give special weight to Robinson’s affairs with women, despite being married to his wife, Nancy, for four decades.

“It’s not against the law, as far as I know,” said Berrigan in reference to infidelity.

The trial is expected to last as long as six weeks. This is the first death penalty case in Johnson County to go to trial since the shooting death of sheriff deputy in 1952. Kansas reinstated the death penalty in 1994.

Among the witnesses expected to be called by Dist. Atty. Paul Morrison will be the parents of Suzette Trouten and Izabela Lewicka, the women found in barrels on Robinson’s Linn County property.

The Troutens are expected to be among the first called to the stand, for it was their daughter’s disappearance in March 2000 that prompted police to investigate Robinson and ultimately led to his arrest three months later.

More than 1,200 potential jurors were summoned for the case the largest-ever jury pool for a Kansas trial. Jury selection began Sept. 16.

Prosecutors say Robinson lured women to Johnson County by soliciting rough sex over the Internet under the name “Slavemaster.” They also claim he used various aliases to represent himself as a businessman.