Jury selection almost finished in Marni Yang trial

Only two more members of the jury for the Marni Yang murder trial remain to be chosen when the selection process begins again Friday morning in Lake County circuit court.

Yang, 43, of Chicago, is charged with the Oct. 6, 2007, slayings of Rhoni Reuter, 42, of Deerfield and Reuter’s unborn daughter.

Police, who arrested Yang in March 2009 after they said they secretly recorded her confessing to a friend, said Yang killed Reuter because she was jealous of Reuter’s relationship with her baby’s father, former Chicago Bears safety Shaun Gayle.

Nine men and three women were chosen to serve as the jury over a three-day period that began on Tuesday and saw 44 people screened by the attorneys on both sides of the case and Associate Judge Christopher Stride.

A man was chosen late Thursday afternoon to serve as one of the three alternate jurors, who listen to all the evidence in the case but participate in deliberations only if one of the original 12 jurors leaves the panel before the verdict is reached.

After the remaining two alternate jurors are chosen and some last-minute motions are heard and decided, opening statements will be scheduled in a trial that is expected to last two or three weeks.

Defense attorneys argued earlier this week that their client was charged with the slayings as a result of a police investigation that focused on Yang shortly after the crime. By doing so, they claimed, police ignored other people, including Gayle, who should have been investigated more thoroughly.

Yang faces a possible life sentence if convicted of first-degree murder and intentional homicide of an unborn child.