Jury selected and trial begins for three people accused of murder

Picking a jury can be tedious work, but lawyers for the Crown and Defense got the job done Tuesday morning in just over an hour. Picking a group of 14 who will sit through the next eight weeks of testimony in the first-degree murder trial for three people, Matthew Kavanaugh, Terry Cole, and Stephanie Noftel. It will be gruesome at times. Crown Prosecutor Colin Shepherd made his opening statements in the afternoon. Stephanie Noftel, he said, was in a blue truck with the victim, Michael Fillier, in a Bay Roberts parking lot the early hours of September 30, 2024. Cole and Cavanaugh pulled up in a gray Honda Civic, then left. They returned 15 minutes later and climbed into the backseat of the truck. Eleven minutes later, Shepherd said the truck was found in flames on a dirt road. When the fire was extinguished, police found Fillier's body inside with a cord wrapped around his neck. The jury will see photos of Fillier's burnt body. They'll see his autopsy pictures too. No easy task for everyday civilians. Testimonies expected to begin Wednesday morning with the man who found the truck on fire. Ryan Cook, CBC News, St. John's.