WOBURN, Massachusetts (AFP) — A British computer engineer went on trial here Monday charged with the murders of his American wife and baby daughter more than two years ago.
Neil Entwistle, 29, originally from Worksop, appeared calm and composed as dressed in a dark suit he arrived at the courthouse for the initial jury selection.
Entwistle has plead not guilty to murdering his wife Rachel, 27, and daughter Lillian at their home in an upscale Boston suburb in early 2006, using his father-in-law's gun.
Police found Rachel was lying curled up with her nine-month baby clutched to her chest when they responded to a call from worried relatives on January 22.
Baby Lillian had been shot through the stomach and the .22-caliber bullet passed through to her mother, who had also been shot in the head.
Prosecutors allege that Entwistle stole a .22-caliber gun from his wife's parents' home during a September 2005 visit. They say his DNA was found on the gun, which he then allegedly replaced after the killings.
The grim discovery prompted an international hunt for Entwistle, after his rented car was found at Boston's Logan airport. He was arrested in London on February 8, 2006 and brought back to the United States to face charges.
He is accused of two counts of murder and two of unlawful possession of a firearm. If found guilty on the murder charges, he faces life imprisonment without parole.
The case opened with the selection of the jury after judge Diane Kottmyer struck down nine motions filed by Entwistle's attorneys including one that potential jurors be asked about their reaction to Internet sex and gambling sites.
Jury selection could take three days with 170 potential jurors to be whittled down to 12 plus four alternates, with the whole trial expected to last some three weeks.
Some 160 witnesses, as many as 29 from Britain, are expected to appear over the course of the trial.
Court documents portray Entwistle as a sexual pervert who spent his time devising Internet scams and setting up pornographic websites, and who struggled to find work when the family tried to start a new life in the United States.
The couple had met in 1999 at the University of York, where Rachel was studying literature and he engineering.
They married in August 2003 in the United States, and their daughter was born less than two years later. Soon afterwards, the couple moved to the United States.
Entwistle told his in-laws that he was earning 10,000 dollars a month advising the British military on secret computer programs, while his wife told her parents his money was tied up in offshore accounts.
But in reality he had struggled to find work in Massachusetts and was funding their comfortable lifestyle with credit cards.
Shortly before the murders, he allegedly posted on the Internet a full-length picture of himself in a lawn chair, his hands gripping his aroused genitals, adding he was looking for "a bit more fun in the bedroom."
Investigators allege Entwistle had set up two pornographic websites and was engaged in a series of Internet scams dating back to 2002 in England. On one, he had even used his wife's name, court documents say.
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