Hardy trial will begin Tuesday

More than two years after two people were murdered and four other occupied vehicles were shot into, all on Interstate 40, a trial will start Tuesday for the suspected shooter at the Custer County Courthouse in Arapaho.
The suspect is Jeremy Doss Hardy, now 38, whose permanent residence was Pasadena, Texas, before he spent the last two years in the Custer County Jail.
County Court Clerk Staci Hunter said 400 county residents were mailed letters asking them to report for possible jury duty. She said 250 were asked to report at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and the remaining 150 at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, if a jury is not seated Tuesday or Wednesday. Testimony and presentation of evidence will begin once a jury is selected.
Both the prosecution and defense have filed lengthy lists of possible witnesses. The state’s list contains 64 names for the first stage of the trial and 32 for the second stage, if it’s needed.
The defense list contains 39 names but tries to leave it open-ended by stating, for example, “any personnel from the Custer County Jail,” and “any witnesses listed in the state’s witness list.”
The first stage of the trial will be to determine guilt or innocence. The second stage would be to determine punishment if there’s a finding of guilt on either of the murder charges, since the state is seeking the death penalty for them. If there is a finding of guilt on either of them, the same jury would be reassembled to hear additional testimony and decide whether the death penalty is warranted.
Normally, in trials of this magnitude, a jury of 12 people is selected plus two alternates. The alternates listen to the presentations of evidence and arguments of the opposing lawyers just as the jurors do, so one or both can step in and help make the ultimate decisions if any of the regulars become incapacitated or is otherwise unable to complete the trial.  
Hardy is charged with eight felonies and two misdemeanors. The felonies are two counts of first-degree murder with malice aforethought.
Kent Powell, 45, a Clinton businessman living outside Arapaho, and Billie Jean West, 63, of Lone Wolf, were the murder victims. Investigators say Powell was killed near the Bethel Road crossover of I-40 in Caddo County and Mrs. West on or near the Exit 84 turnoff at the east edge of Weatherford.
The other felonies are one count of assault with a dangerous weapon, four of using a vehicle in discharge of a weapon, and one of a “pattern of criminal offenses.” The misdemeanors are eluding/attempting to elude a police officer and driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
Jurors will be asked to determine Hardy’s guilt or innocence on each of the 10 counts and what his punishment should be for any that he is found guilty of.
The prosecution’s legal team is headed by Angela Marsee and Jason Hicks, district attorneys for Custer and Caddo counties, respectively. Dana Hada, an assistant DA in Custer County, will assist.
Hardy will be defended by a three-person team from the Capital Division of the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System based in Norman. His lawyers are Mitchell Solomon, chief of the OIDS Capital Trial Division, Benjamin Brown and Shea Smith.
Some of the offenses allegedly occurred just before midnight and the others just after midnight of Dec. 16, 2015, over a 55-mile stretch of I-40 covering parts of four counties starting in Canadian County on the east and going through Caddo and Custer counties before culminating in Washita County on the west. One of the murders was in Caddo County and the other in 
Custer County, which is one reason district attorneys for those counties are leading the prosecution.
The one count of assault with a dangerous weapon alleges that Hardy used a GMC 3500 dual-wheeled pickup to chase and attempt to smash into a GMC Sonoma pickup driven by Adam Wood of Guymon along a three-mile stretch of I-40 in Canadian County just east of the Hinton exit.
The suspect reportedly was employed at a drilling site near El Reno when the shooting spree occurred.