Wichita slaying trial to start Monday

? Two brothers from Dodge City each say they were nowhere near the scenes of a weeklong crime spree that left five people dead.

But when Reginald and Jonathan Carr’s trial begins in Sedgwick County District Court, neither will have any trouble implicating his brother.

“We’re going to be pointing fingers at each other a lot,” Jay Greeno, one of Reginald Carr’s lawyers, told District Judge Paul Clark at a recent hearing.

The brothers are charged with abducting five people from an east Wichita home in December 2000 and later shooting them in a soccer field. One of the victims survived, but Aaron Sander, 29, Heather Muller, 25, Brad Heyka, 27, and Jason Befort, 26, died.

The Carrs also are accused in the shooting earlier that month of Ann Walenta, 55, who later died.

All told, they are charged with 113 criminal acts, including capital murder. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.

Before testimony can even begin, though, a jury must be impaneled from a pool of 517 potential jurors the largest pool ever in Sedgwick County. Selection is scheduled to begin Monday and could take weeks.

The trial poses difficulties for both sides.

Prosecutors will have to deal with inconclusive eyewitness testimony and spotty DNA evidence. Lab tests identify a pistol used in three different crimes, but the state hasn’t tied it to the Carrs.