Lawyer: Murder Case Jurors Too Young

A 79-year-old woman accused of fatally shooting her 85-year-old ex-beau is being deprived of her constitutional right to a fair trial, her attorney said, because the potential jurors are not old enough for her to be judged by a jury of her peers.

As Lena Sims Driskell peered over her gold-rimmed glasses at potential jurors in her murder trial, some of the 58 candidates were young enough to be her great-grandchildren. Only five seemed close to 70, the legal age for exemption as a juror in the state of Georgia.

"This is the youngest jury pool I've ever seen," Driskell's attorney, Deborah Poole, said Monday. "Most of these people look under 30. How does one have a trial when you are not able to include a whole class of people in the jury?"

Driskell is accused of fatally shooting Herman Winslow on June 10, 2005, as he read the newspaper at the senior citizens home where the two lived. After dating for a year, police said Driskell became angry when Winslow broke off their relationship and started seeing another woman.

Driskell is charged with murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm.

Police say she was wearing a hairnet, stockings, a bathrobe and slippers when she confronted Winslow at his apartment. Winslow complained and a security guard tried to calm Driskell down, but when he turned around she drew an antique handgun she had hidden behind her back, put the gun to Winslow's head and fired up to four times, Detective D.B. Mathis said.

"I did it and I'd do it again!" Driskell was quoted as yelling to the officers who found her waving the gun and holding her finger on the trigger when they arrived.

At the jury selection Monday, only three potential jurors said they would be unable to pass judgment on someone older than themselves. And when asked whether there were any members of advocacy groups for elderly people, none raised a hand.

Fulton County Superior Court Jury Clerk Jennifer Lawson said that while senior citizens are not excluded from jury service, any person 70 or older may be excused from jury duty with the submission of an age affidavit.

Opening statements in the trial could begin Tuesday. The trial is expected to last no more than three days.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Fani Willis, who is prosecuting the case, declined to comment.