Opening statements begin in Willmar Friday morning in the trial of Brok Junkermeier, 19, charged with stabbing and strangling his friend's 79-year-old grandmother, Lila Warwick.
Junkermeier has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges for allegedly carrying out the July ambush robbery and attack prosecutors say he planned with Warwick's grandson, Robert Warwick, now 18.
"This isn't a whodunit case," said Junkermeier's attorney Kent Marshall, earlier this month. "We know who killed Lila Warwick. The issue for the jury is not whether he committed murder, but what degree of murder they should convict him of."
Jury selection began Tuesday at the Kandiyohi County Courthouse and by Thursday afternoon, 12 jurors and two alternates had been chosen from dozens of individual interviews.
JENNA ROSS
