Wisner Desmaret, the man who could face the death penalty or life without parole is acting as his own attorney.
Day three of jury selection continued Wednesday and resulted in three potential jurors being dismissed after going against Judge Robert Branning's orders of not discussing the case with other potential jurors.
"The conversation pertained to the fact that the defendant is representing himself and he does not have an attorney," said Judge Robert Branning. "Juror said it's because he, the defendant would not take the deal."
Judge Branning read a handwritten letter in court that was written by another potential juror.
The note mentioned the three potential jurors dismissed formed a biased opinion against Desmaret before the trial even started.
"If I am in a room like this and it's a whole bunch of us, we are locked in a room you know the conversation gets around," Desmaret said.
Desmaret and his standby counsel Lee Hollander expressed concerns about the entire group of jurors who were in earshot of the conversation—wondering if the jury pool was tainted.
Two additional jurors did admit they heard the conversation and said it didn't impact their answers, so they were able to continue through the process.
This isn't the first time concerns about Desmaret defending himself came up in court.
On day two of jury selection, a juror said she believed what Desmaret is accused of is heinous, but still can't understand why he's able to go at it alone.
According to the 6th Amendment, it is Desmaret's constitutional right to act as his own attorney. However, his lack of knowledge is apparent in the courtroom.
"Despite me cautioning you over and over you insist on making statements that are declarative and not asking questions," Judge Branning told Desmaret.
The judge trying to keep Desmaret on track said Desmaret's behavior has been improper the past few days.
Since this is a death penalty case, the court has an extensive jury selection process.
So, he listed out what questions Desmaret can only ask during the first phase of the selection process regarding the pre-trial publicity, the death penalty, and hardships for the jurors.
Selecting 60 potential jurors to be called back on Thursday is the goal.
The 60 potential jurors will be questioned again to scale the number down to 16 with 12 jurors and 4 alternates.
