Granat Jury Seated, Jury Selection and Opening Statements for Wyma To Take Place Tuesday

BRIDGEVIEW, IL -- For the first time since his parents’ battered bodies were found in their blood-soaked bedroom five years ago, John Granat, along with co-defendant Christopher Wyma appeared in court wearing civilian clothes for jury selection in their double-murder trial.

Granat and Wyma, along with two other youths, are accused of bludgeoning and stabbing Granat’s parents, John and Maria, in September 2011. A third co-defendant, Ehab Qasem, is poised to testify against his two former friends.

The fourth co-defendant Mohammed Salahat, maintains that he waited outside in the car after driving Wyma and Qasem to Granat's house in unincorporated Palos Park and was unaware of the alleged carnage taking place inside. Salahat pleaded guilty last year in exchange for a 35-year sentence. All four of the accused were in their teens when the slayings were committed.

>> Stage Set for Granat-Wyma Double Murder Trial, Co-Defendant Qasem To Be Star Witness

Wyma, wearing a blue blazer, blue shirt and khaki pants, appeared briefly in Cook County Judge Neil Linehan’s Bridgeview courtroom Monday morning. Wyma and Granat will be tried in the same courtroom, but with separate juries.

A sheriff’s deputy was seen carrying the pair’s trial wardrobe to the detainee’s lock-up off the courtroom. After Wyma’s brief appearance, the deputy brought Wyma’s jail uniform back into lockup where the two co-defendants were changing. Jury selection for Wyma’s trial is expected to get underway Tuesday.

The Fifth District Municipal Courthouse’s abysmal parking situation -- at least half of the lot has been fenced off for electrical work -- caused a bottleneck of jurors and others who had business at the courthouse to form at the door.

Some courthouse employees said it was the first time in recent memory that a double jury was being seated. LaFonzo Palmer, Granat’s public defender, was late and remarked that he couldn’t find a parking space in the lot.

After reading the charges against Granat, who is facing 78 counts of first degree murder, home invasion and robbery, jury selection got underway for his trial. The attorneys and Granat stood up and greeted the potential jurors packed into the near capacity courtroom.

Granat looks considerably different -- grown up -- from his last booking photo taken the day of his arrest on Sept. 13, 2011 and his "Johnny Hashish" days at Stagg High School. Wearing a striped shirt and gray slacks, he sat with his attorneys taking notes and leafing through a paperback book.

Linehan explained that the trials of both men run will from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the rest of the week, with closing arguments possibly taking place next Tuesday.

“I expect to get a lot of work done,” Linehan said, who’s presided over the case for five years.

Admonishing the jury pool to avoid discussing the case with each other or read or watch news coverage of the trial, Linehan also warned that he would consider charging any juror caught blabbing on Facebook the costs for running the trial.

“These are simple rules,” the judge said. “I don’t think we’re going to have any problems.”

Potential jurors were also asked if they they read or heard any pre-trial publicity. Wyma’s court-appointed public defender Daniel Nolan said during pretrial motions last week that the news media has been “hostile” and “one-sided" to his client.

Four people from the jury pool raised their hands and they were ushered one-by-one into the jury room, where they were interviewed by the judge and attorneys for both sides.

Reading from their jury forms, Linehan asked each prospective juror if he or she had ever been or known someone who had been the victim of a crime, a party to a lawsuit, a complainant or accused of a crime, or had friends or family members that were police officers.

Linehan also asked potential jurors about their children.

“Here’s your chance to brag,” he said.

All of the juror candidates lived on the South Side or south suburban Cook County. Only twice did attorneys for both sides ask jurors to clarify some of their answers. One man worked for the federal government as a “teleconference specialist.” Another woman explained that her brothers had been convicted of drug charges “back in the 1970s.”

By mid-afternoon, Granat’s jury and alternates had been seated. They don’t have to come back until Wednesday, when opening statements for Granat’s trial are expected to begin. Jury selection for Wyma will get underway on Tuesday, with opening statements to take place in the afternoon.