Jury Selection Ends After 29 Days For Trial in Charlotte, N.C., Slayings

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) _ Jury selection took 29 days for the trial of a man who was taped graphically describing the rape and murder of 10 women.

The last of six alternate jurors was chosen Thursday, and the trial of Henry Louis Wallace should begin next Wednesday.

Wallace, 30, is charged with 27 crimes, including nine counts of first-degree murder and nine counts of first-degree rape. The case of a 10th woman is being handled separately.

Lawyers estimate the trial could last five to seven weeks.

Wallace told police on March 13, 1994, that he had killed 10 Charlotte women since May 1992. The former fast-food worker knew all the victims, black women age 18 to 35.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Wallace, while defense lawyers, who have acknowledged Wallace is the killer, are hoping for second-degree murder verdicts that will spare his life.

To do so, they must deal with taped statements Wallace gave to homicide investigators after his arrest. Defense attorneys were unable to persuade Mecklenberg County Superior Court Judge Robert Johnston to block the tapes from being admitted as evidence in the trial.

Wallace describes the killings in graphic detail on the tapes, which were played in open court during pretrial hearings. One woman fell to her knees and prayed as she was being killed, Wallace said, and in another case, he poured rum on a victim’s body and set it afire.