Accused Mountie killer's trial could last 7 weeks

A jury was assembled Monday in Yellowknife for the murder trial of Emrah Bulatci, an Alberta man accused of killing an RCMP officer in Hay River, N.W.T., two years ago.

Bulatci, 25, is charged with first-degree murder in the Oct. 6, 2007, shooting death of Const. Christopher Worden, 30, in Hay River, located 400 kilometres south of the Northwest Territories capital near the Alberta border.

Worden, originally from Ottawa, joined the Mounties in 2002 and served most of his career in the Northwest Territories.

The Crown is expected to begin presenting its case on Wednesday. Seven weeks have been scheduled for Bulatci's trial.

Twelve jurors and two alternates were chosen by late Monday afternoon. Upward of 1,300 people more than seven per cent of Yellowknife's population had been summoned to a downtown hotel that morning, in what was considered the largest jury selection process in the territory's history.

The courthouse was too small to accommodate that many people, so jury selection took place in the hotel's banquet hall.

The trial was moved to Yellowknife after defence lawyers and prosecutors agreed that it would be difficult to get a fair trial for Bulatci in Hay River, which has a population of about 3,650.

Worden's death shocked people not only in the Northwest Territories, but also across Canada, thanks to heavy media coverage at the time.

To ensure Bulatci gets a fair hearing, the N.W.T. Supreme Court granted his lawyers special permission to question jurors on how media coverage of Worden's death may have influenced them.

The court also imposed a publication ban on the jury selection process, preventing news media from reiterating the earlier coverage when Bulatci's lawyers question jurors.