HOULTON, Maine — Final jury selection in the triple-murder trial of Thayne Ormsby will be held Monday morning in Aroostook County Superior Court.
Once 12 jurors and three alternates are seated, oral arguments will be presented, Superior Court Justice E. Allen Hunter said late Friday.
The judge made the announcement at the conclusion of three days spent slowly winnowing the pool of potential jurors from 118 to 33 deemed impartial and able to serve.
Also late Friday, Hunter denied a defense motion to move the trial out of Aroostook County because of pretrial publicity.
Ormsby, 21, an Ellsworth native who was living in Orient in 2010, is accused of killing two men and a 10-year-old boy in the tiny town of Amity and setting a truck on fire to destroy evidence. He was arrested in New Hampshire after fleeing Maine.
Deputy Attorney General William Stokes, who is prosecuting the case, said before the noon lunch break that there needed to be at least 36 or 37 people from which 12 jurors and two or three alternates could be chosen.
The prosecution and the defense team usually each have 10 preemptive strikes they may use to remove jurors from the pool and one each for the alternates.
Late Friday, however, Stokes agreed to give up some of his preemptive challenges, Hunter announced.
Opening arguments originally were scheduled to begin Friday morning. The trial is scheduled to conclude April 20.
Stokes declined to comment on his decision or other aspects of the case. It is the practice of the Maine attorney general’s office not to comment on cases until a verdict has been announced.
Defense attorneys James Dunleavy and Sarah LeClaire of Presque Isle did not express dissatisfaction with Hunter’s decision.
“We’ve gone through the process and the process worked the way it was designed to work, and we will proceed,” Dunleavy said after court recessed for the day.
Ormsby pleaded not guilty in July 2010 to three counts of murder and an arson charge in connection with the deaths of Jeffrey Ryan, 55, Ryan’s son Jesse, 10, and Ryan family friend Jason Dehahn, 30, all of Amity, on June 22, 2010. They were found dead about 27 hours after the killings at the Ryans’ home on U.S. Route 1, according to police.
Ormsby added not guilty by reason of insanity to his not guilty plea in April 2011, LeClaire said Friday.
Hunter previously ruled that Ormsby is competent to stand trial and able to assist in his defense.
Because of his insanity plea, Ormsby will be tried in two phases. In the first and longer phase, the jury will be asked to find if he is guilty or not guilty of the charges on which he has been indicted. If he is found guilty, the jury will hear evidence as to his state of mind at the time of the crime. Jurors then will be asked to determine whether Ormsby was criminally responsible for his actions.
If the jury finds he was insane when the crimes were committed, Ormsby would not be sent to prison but to the Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta for an undetermined amount of time. If jurors find him guilty and sane, Ormsby would face a sentence of between 25 years and life in prison on each of the murder charges. He would face up to 30 years in prison if convicted of arson.
Judges are allowed to impose life sentences in Maine under specific circumstances. One of them is being convicted of multiple murders.
More than 35 potential jurors were questioned individually Friday. All were asked about their knowledge of the trial and relationships to possible witnesses. The judge and attorneys also asked potential jurors about their experiences with the law or inherent biases that might prevent them from judging the case fairly.
Some jurors were dismissed for ill health or because serving on a jury would be an economic or personal hardship. Others were excluded after they expressed doubts about their ability to be impartial. A few were removed from the final pool because they said it would be too difficult to serve on a case that included the death of a child.
None of the potential jurors questioned Friday were excluded from the final jury pool because he or she knew too many details about the case.
Police said the victims were stabbed to death with a combat knife that Ormsby reportedly always carried with him before he took Ryan’s pickup truck and burned it with the aid of an accomplice. State police divers have found the knife, officials said.
Police said the defendant confessed to killing Jeffrey Ryan because he believed Ryan was a drug dealer. Ryan’s family has denied the claim, and a criminal background check on Jeffrey Ryan revealed no history of drug-related offenses.
Ormsby’s attorneys filed paperwork seeking to suppress statements that he made to police in June and July of 2010, claiming that his Miranda rights were violated. Hunter rejected the motion in December 2011.
Not really a choice here as the evidence of his guilt is overwhelming. Imagine the terror of the ten year old as he was hunted down and stabbed to death in his own home. What’s insane is that there is no death penalty for murderers like this.
I agree! If they run out of potential jurors, I’d like to donate my time to this worthy undertaking….
You would not be eligable, as you have already reached a decision of his guilt
Yep. But they don’t know who we are, do they? And I ain’t gonna let on.
Lying to get on a jury is the same as perjury.
One crime does not justify another.
There’s a stark contrast between someone doing something when they are insane, and someone doing something with a cold and calculating intent to deceive, with what amounts to criminal intent.
That’s what you’re advocating for here.
But using your reasoning, he could just say he was insane when he lied to get on the jury and then it wouldn’t be cold and calculating any more. :)
Lying to the judge and lawyers during the selection process is a crime.
Nobody wants people who will do this on a jury, not the defense, not the prosecution.
It costs the public a small fortune as well, because of the inevitable mistrial.
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Do YOU think there’s any chance that he didn’t do it? After all, he thinks he did it and he’s in a pretty good position to know. The only question is whether his mental state at the time he butchered those 3 innocent people somehow entitles him to be found not guilty. I’m sure that every person who commits such a heinous crime has some serious mental issues, but that doesn’t mean they should ever spend another day outside of prison. Lock him up and throw away the key.
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We’ll give him a little due process and then find him guilty.
I want gas, mileage, and lunch. Otherwise, I can spare the time. I need transportation too since my car is under the weather….but I’d show up otherwise.
Me, me, me. Sickening.
I think the death penalty lets them off easy … instead of having them forced to face the horror
they have caused … to live out their lives with their own –mirror– held in their faces. Death is the EASY way out.
I realize and agree with the unfair burden of prison costs and many other risks, too.
Yet more death will not ease the burden of the living, nor bring back the dead.
Just saying.
-from two of our Great Teachers-
… let those who are without guilt cast the first stone — attributed to Jesus of Nazareth
..an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. ~ Gandhi
Good post. Opposition to the death penalty is not based on insensitivity to the horror suffered by the victims, nor on the desire to coddle murderers. Executing criminals demans us all — and, even given this man’s young age, it will cost far less to hold him in a maximum-security prison for the rest of his life than it would to execute him in any state where the death penalty is legal. This is documented, and is THE reason New Mexico recently abolished its death penalty. Other states will likely follow as fiscal reality trumps the obvious short-term emotional reward of capital punishment.
What you say about keeping someone alive and holding a mirror in front of them being a worse punishment than death might be true for a normal person, but if death is really the easy way out or is at least perceived that way by convicted murderers, then why does almost every death row inmate submit appeal after appeal right up until they are finally granted the “easy way out?” They obviously fear death more than they do your proverbial mirror!
In cases like this one where there is no doubt about guilt and no need for lengthy appeals, a quick death would be a lot less expensive for the rest of us than keeping this young man in a cage for the next 60 years. Plus, it would make 100% sure that he never did anything like this to another innocent child ever again!
I imagine the 2 men also were terrified in their last moments. Perhaps the boy’s dad felt helpless knowing he couldn’t save his child.
The death penalty is consistently and constantly proven as a potentially erroneous, dangerous and out dated form of punishment.
The evidence you haven’t yet heard and know nothing about is “overwhelming” ?
Something else here is overwhelming.
The fact that he already confessed doesn’t impress you ?
Wow, you would be every defense lawyer’s dream jurist ….. “Turn ’em loose Roos.”
Not in the least bit, because a confession does not automatically mean guilt.
And waiting to hear all the evidence before deciding is judicious.
It’s not as though popular opinion based entirely on partial information has proven itself to be infallible, much less something to strive for.
Justice is evidence-based. We do not know the evidence.
…
For his sake I hope there’s documentation of a history of mental illness — or is he pleading that he just snapped because the ten year old looked at him funny.
I do not believe for one moment that he is insane. I think Strout put alot of garbage in his head and/or put him up to it. Yet Strout gets to plead out. Upstanding and trustworthy citizen this Strout is. HE’S the drug dealer and was even caught at it. With his grandson, at that! Not that it’s probably going to matter now, because Strout gets more or less a ‘free pass’, but there’s alot more that will come out in regards to him. One thing that sticks in my mind is that Strout said he was afraid of Ormsby. Yet, he carts his butt around, destroying evidence and then takes him to a family member’s place to stay? C’mon!
My thoughts exactly!
I don’t know if he was insane or not, and don’t know how anybody here could know, having not heard any evidence.
Wouldn’t be the first time a young man was manipulated and driven insane for the purpose of doing someone else’s bidding.
I think that everyone who commits such heinous crimes is insane, but that doesn’t have anything to do with their guilt.
Thanks for your thoughts, which have no bearing on the legal definition of insanity.
Spot on. There is more to this story than meets the eye and the plea deal offered to Strout is a disservice to the state and the families involved. I knew Thayne, reasonably well actually. In my opinion there is no way he would have come up with this idea on his own. He was a kid who would do anything for adult approval. I was deeply saddened to find him in this situation, but upon further reflection, not tremendously surprised. I believe that someone convinced him to do this. And whoever that someone was should be held responsible as well. Solicitation to commit murder is a crime equal to murder itself in most parts of the country, but apparently not here in Maine.
I find it curious, alarming, and frankly, contemptuous, that the Bangor Daily News chose to publish an intensely SMILING photo of Mr. Ormsby (from the July 2010 file photo ) in the article that announces his “insanity” plea.
How very UN-kind … and SHALLOW-minded of the Bangor Daily News to shove THAT into the faces of OUR (Southern Aroostook) community.
Thank you very much, Judy Harrison. How very “thoughtful” and deeply “compassionate” of you.
(run and hide YOUR face).
(Me, snickering at the media “charade”: TSK, TSK)
Thank y0u, BDN, for changing the photograph to the current likeness of Mr. Ormsby, (AS described to me by some who were IN the court), not that grinning slap-in-the-face … to the survivors and to OUR community (the old file photo).
But, which picture was published in the PAPER distribution?
In addition to my post about the photo, I sent the same message to Judy Harrison (by e-mail) … so maybe it helped to provide some correct – and RESPECTFUL – presentation to The People of the State of Maine.
Thank you very much, Bangor Daily News.
Seems Happy enough… In todays economy and Gas prices he will have everything free for life.. no wonder he is smiling
It’s that simple, is it? Why haven’t you murdered someone? You could be set for life! I’ve a feeling you would rather complain.
After reading this article, I guess the remaining prospective jurors now have an idea how to avoid being selected.
More advocacy on your part for perjury ? How quaint.
In 1902 a 12-year-old girl was brutally stabbed by a 19-year-old boy. Little Maria died of those fourteen horrible wounds, made by the 10-inch blade of the boy’s knife. It took some forty years or so; but the mother of Maria Goretti and the Pope of her Church offered their forgiveness to the man–once that boy. Maybe it’s because it is Good Friday, but I cannot get this story out of my mind.
Look at that picture of him with his two attorneys! If they’re not trying to make him look like a real “John Boy Walton”…….I’ll eat my Easter bonnett!
Yeah, they should have dressed him in a Halloween costume, and made him look as evil as possible.
Of course he is not guilty by reason of insanity……that is the easy way out! You did it, case closed why waste taxpayers money…..get ready to stay in jail your whole life.
As Jason’s Aunt I feel that my family is reliving the pain and horror of losing him again. How dare Orsmby say he is insane? He voluntaried information and it should stay. How in the world can a human being plead insanity when he was perfectly sane doing the MURDERS!!!!!!!!!! Please let us not forget Jason, Jesse and Jeff during this Easter Weekend. say a prayer for God to bring peace and love to Jason’s children and his Mom, Dad ,Brother and new Niece. Please remember that our Justice system is doing their job and are trying to dot the i’s and cross the t’s. Pray for life in PRISON and an end to this torture for my family.
we live in a free country compared to the rest of the world, however, the pain of the families who lost a loved one goes beyond the geographical area of this free world and into the soul of each and every family member. I am the aunt of Jason DeHahn who has watched the emotional devastation that his father, mother, brother, children, aunt’s, uncle’s and the very large extended family has endured during the past two years. Whether Ormsby is guility or innocent the judicial system will determine, but the sentence that our family has endured and will continue to endure will never end. Our sentence will be with us for the rest of our lives….the bars that jail us no one can see or feel, but the family will forever feel that pain. It never ever goes away…..never….