Anchorage Daily News

PALMER -- Jury selection began Wednesday in the murder trial of Frank Adams, the man accused of beating his girlfriend to death in the summer of 2007 and going for a ride with her body.

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Frank Adams

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Early the morning of July 28, that year, Palmer police tried to pull Adams over after a gas station employee suspected him of drunk driving and phoned him in. Adams led police on a high-speed chase down the Glenn Highway before road spikes blew his tires and sent his car into a ditch at Peters Creek. Once officers pulled him from the car, they discovered the badly beaten body of 42-year-old Stacey Johnston lying in the back seat.

Adams told investigators drug dealers did it.

The search for an impartial jury, people who don't know too much about this case, began Wednesday morning as prospects were called one by one into Superior Court Beverly Cutler's courtroom. They answered questions from Rachel Gernat, assistant district attorney, and defense attorney Scott Sterling. Both sides wanted to get a sense of who the people were, how they form their opinions and whether they can get behind "innocent until proven guilty."

Among those questioned was a young mother of two who works full time. Since the trial is expected to last three to five weeks, the court wanted to know how being on this jury might affect her job.

She said her employer would be OK with it.

Not all jurors are so lucky.

Other questions concerned attitudes toward drinking, whether doing something drunk that you wouldn't normally do is an explanation or an excuse. The attorneys also probed views on domestic violence. They wanted to know if potential jurors would be inclined to assign blame to a victim for continuing to stay with an abuser.

Johnston filed a protective order against Adams in May, a month after they met, and was found dead in the back of his car two months after that.

Jury selection continues today.

Find Debra McKinney online at adn.com/contact/dmckinney or call 257-4465.

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