After a four-month delay, jury selection for a death penalty case in Denver started Tuesday for a man charged with fatally stabbing five people inside a bar.
Dexter Lewis, 25, faces 18 felony counts, including multiple counts of first-degree murder, in the attack at Fero’s Bar and Grill in October 2012.
Questioning of potential individual jurors began Tuesday in Denver District Court with a pool of at least 600 people. The long-awaited trail is scheduled to start in July.
Jury selection was scheduled to start in January but was delayed after a judge granted the defense’s request for a delay so they could complete witness interviews.
Two other men charged in the case, brothers Joseph and Lynell Hill, have accepted plea agreements and received lengthy sentences. Lynell Hill was sentenced to 70 years in prison, and Joseph Hill was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A fourth man, Demarea Harris, was also at the bar with Lewis and the Hill brothers. At the time, Harris was an informant for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He has not been arrested or charged in the case.
Lewis also faces robbery, arson and two habitual criminal counts. He has pleaded not guilty in the case.
Lewis’ case marks the first time since 2001 that Denver prosecutors have pursued the death penalty. T he last time a Denver jury sentenced a defendant to death was in 1986 after Frank Rodriguez was convicted in the rape and murder of Lorraine Martelli.
The Fero’s Bar and Grill victims were the owner, Young Suk Fero, 63, of Aurora; Daria M. Pohl, 21, of Denver; Kellene Fallon, 44, of Denver; Ross Richter, 29, of Overland Park, Kan.; and Tereasa Beesley, 45, of Denver.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822, knicholson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/kierannicholson
