A former Leesburg resident suspected in a series of stabbing attacks, including several in Northern Virginia, is facing his first trial this week.
Jury selection for the trial of 35-year-old Elias Abuelazam began Tuesday in Genesee Circuit Court in Flint, Mich. Abuelazam is on trial in the death of a 49-year-old man.
In total, he is suspected in at least 13 stabbing attacks, five of them fatal. Abuelazam is charged with three murders and six attempted murders in the Flint area and an attempted killing near Toledo, Ohio. He’s also suspected in three non-fatal stabbings in Leesburg. All of the slashing attacks took place between May and August 2010.
Abuelazam was arrested in August 2010 as he tried to flee the country from an Atlanta airport.
Attorneys in the case and the judge overseeing the trial are expected to spend several days reviewing jury questionnaires before individually questioning prospective jurors, according to the Flint Journal.
Abuelazam’s lawyers acknowledge they may face an uphill battle: Defense attorney Brian Morley told the Associated Press that it would be difficult to overcome DNA evidence that authorities say links Abuelazam to the slaying of Arnold Minor. Minor’s blood was found in Abuelazam’s SUV and in the luggage he was carrying when he was arrested, police say.
Morley told the AP he was preparing an insanity defense.
