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Jon Wayne Joseph

Potential jurors summoned for a second-degree murder trial this week in Collier County can be questioned about their views on the states stand your ground law, a judge ruled Monday.

Collier Circuit Judge Ramiro Maalich granted defense attorney Mike McDonnells request to ask potential jurors in a private sidebar what they think about the law if they say theyve formed an opinion about it. McDonnell is representing defendant John Richard Orr, 39, who is accused of fatally stabbing 63-year-old Jon Wayne Joseph in the Lake Park neighborhood in October 2011.

After his arrest, Orr attempted to claim immunity from criminal charges under stand your ground, but Circuit Judge Frank Baker denied the motion in March 2012. McDonnell, who now plans to argue self-defense, said Monday that the general public confuses self-defense and stand your ground and may have misconceptions about the law.

It is such a volatile issue, publicly, he argued.

Maalich also granted a request from McDonnell to use the private sidebar to ask potential jurors if theyve read media coverage about the case. McDonnell presented stacks of old news articles about the case, including several from the Daily News, along with comments that readers had left on the online versions.

The comments are alarming because they indicate that at least a certain segment of the public society has already in their minds convicted John Orr, McDonnell said. And some of those comments are vicious.

Jury selection begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday to choose the six-person jury panel. McDonnell said he expects the trial to last five to seven days.

Orr, who did not speak at length Monday in court, has been in custody at the Naples Jail Center since his arrest in October 2011. If convicted of the second-degree murder charge, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

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Jurors in murder trial to be questioned about views on 'stand your ground'