Trial jury selected for Tolson murder case on Outer Banks

MANTEO — A trial jury and two alternates were selected from a 75-member pool of potential local jurors on Monday for the case of John “Jay” Curtis Tolson. Opening statements in the case are set for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Tolson is charged with the second-degree murder of his former girlfriend, Amanda LeeAnn Fletcher Hartleben, who is referred to as LeeAnn Fletcher.

A 38-year-old mother of two, Fletcher was found unresponsive in her Kitty Hawk home on July 22, 2020, and died three days later. Tolson was arrested in Maine that October.

After about an hour of regular calendar cases in Dare County Superior Court, most of which were continued, Tolson was brought into the courtroom around 10:40 a.m., dressed in a suit.

The pool of jurors was called to the courtroom about 11:30 a.m. after Judge Jeff Foster of Pitt County heard motions by the defense attorneys.

Christan Routten, assistant public defender with the First Judicial District Public Defender’s Office and one of Tolson’s lawyers, requested a motion to prohibit all parties in the trial from identifying Fletcher as “the victim,” instead calling her “the decedent.” She said the use of “’victim’ implies that a crime has occurred.”

“That’s our theory, that a crime occurred, and she’s a victim in the case,” countered District 1 Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Bland, one of the prosecutors for the state.

Foster denied the motion regarding the state’s verbiage, noting that is their theory. He said he would decide later about the phrasing for jury instructions.

Routten also made a motion to exclude all the roughly 50 photographs and all physical evidence in the case.

Foster asked for the binder of photographs and said he would consider them “after hours” and then determine which are admissible and which aren’t. He said he’d rule on the physical evidence after the jury was picked.

The jury comprises seven women and five men, and the two alternates are one woman and one man. Jury members include two former math teachers, a pastor, an Uber driver, a landscaper and an oceanographer.

At least 11 jurors were called to the jury box, then excused throughout the day, and at least one juror was excused even before the jurors were admitted into the courtroom. When his name was called in the afternoon, a colleague told the judge that he’d left in the morning. After the judge suggested that deputies go locate him, it came to light that he had been excused from jury duty, and there was a collective laugh of relief in the room.

Attorneys had prepared a questionnaire that jurors filled out in the morning. The attorneys referenced those responses during their questioning.

Jurors were asked if they had heard or seen anything about the case previously; from what sources; if they had formed opinions of Tolson’s guilt or innocence; and if they had, if they could set those aside to be impartial jurors.

A Buxton resident said that one of his close friends was friends with Tolson, and that he was “struggling with the impartial part of this,” before he was excused from serving.

An East Lake resident said she grew up with LeeAnn, and she was excused.

A Wanchese man said he’d “probably not” be able to set aside the opinion he’d formed. “I know all of them up there,” he said, gesturing to Fletcher’s family members.

Attorneys representing both sides excused other jurors after consulting with either Tolson or Fletcher’s family, respectively. Without citing reasons, as is allowed, they excused several jurors including a restaurant server, a former physician’s assistant, a nurse, a retired nurse, an auto detailer and a realty company accountant.

Bland and Routten each in turn asked jurors if they understood that Tolson is presumed innocent until evidence is presented that satisfied the state’s burden of proof “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

After Foster dismissed the jury at 4:25 p.m., he ruled that the physical evidence collected in July 2020 was admissible, and said he’d consider and decide later about the September evidence, collected by the State Bureau of Investigations along with Kitty Hawk police, about which he said he had “concerns.”

The evidence Kitty Hawk police collected on July 24 included a comforter, towel and pillow appearing to have blood on them, according to Bland’s statements. It also included a shirt also with the appearance of blood that a private investigator the family hired collected, then turned over to Kitty Hawk police on July 31.

Foster imposed a list of restrictions on members of the media who are covering the trial, which on Monday included reporters from three news outlets and two CBS “48 Hours” staffers.

Foster’s restrictions include mandatory seating in the bench farthest back in the courtroom and no audio recording for the duration of the proceedings. He also limited still photography and videography to the first half hour of motion hearings, and only by one designated media person for each.

He repeatedly cautioned jurors to not look at or listen to media coverage of the trial, as he said such coverage is often “inaccurate.”

Foster is the judge who denied the multi-organizational request for body camera footage being turned over news media in April 28, 2021, after sheriff’s deputies in Elizabeth City shot and killed the unarmed Black man, Andrew Brown, Jr., 42, one week prior while serving a warrant.