Jury selection begins in day care assault case

When deputies took a DNA sample from Kendrick Morris, they were hoping to tie him to a vicious rape outside a public library in April 2008.

Not only did the sample implicate the teen in that attack, investigators said, it also linked him to a case that had stumped them for 10 months: a rape at a day care center blocks from Morris' home. Morris, 19, has pleaded not guilty in both cases.

Jury selection began today in the June 2007 assault at the Clair-Mel City day care center. One hundred jurors were summoned and filled out 16-question surveys about their television and newspaper habits and whether they've seen news reports about either case Morris is charged with, or other high-profile local crimes.

Morris is charged with five felonies, each carrying a possible life sentence: two counts of sexual battery; and single counts of attempted sexual battery, attempted robbery with a deadly weapon and armed burglary with an assault.

Morris, then 16, was arrested in April 2008, two days after a teenage girl was beaten and raped while dropping off books at the Bloomingdale Regional Public Library. That case is set for trial Sept. 27.

The library rape case - including the victim's arduous recovery - has dominated headlines, leaving the day care rape largely in the shadows.

In that case, investigators said the female victim was unlocking the Children's Lighthouse Day Care Center on the morning of June 28, 2007, when she was confronted by a man with a knife.

The man forced the woman inside, demanded money and raped her. The attacker escaped through a side door after being startled by the arrival of another employee.

Morris' attorneys unsuccessfully tried to have both trials moved out of Hillsborough County, citing the extensive publicity.

However, Circuit Judge Chet A. Tharpe said he might reconsider his ruling if jury questioning in the day care rape trial shows an impartial panel can't be picked.

Tharpe also rejected a defense attempt to have the DNA evidence thrown out.

Morris' attorneys had argued that deputies didn't have a proper warrant to obtain the sample.