Judge slams prosecution over Matos jury selection

HUDSON (FOX 13) - A jury has been selected in the case of Adam Matos, who is accused of killing four people in Hudson.

The judge expected to start opening statements by 2 p.m. Thursday, but jury selection took longer than expected.

This is a potential death penalty case so the pool of dozens of jurors was questioned heavily on their personal beliefs of what punishments are appropriate.

The potential jurors were asked by the defense this hypothetical question: If someone kills four people in cold blood, is the death penalty the only reasonable punishment?

In this case, the prosecution will argue this was a cold-blooded killing.

They say Matos killed his ex-girlfriend, Megan Brown, her parents, Margaret and Gregory, and her boyfriend, Nick Leonard.

They also said he fled with his four-year-old son, who was later found to be OK.

Judge Mary Handsel admonished the attorneys for taking so long during jury selection:

"I'll give you five minutes a juror, that's fine. We are not sitting here while you guys have a lotto 15 minutes per juror. That's not necessary, nor is it proper. You chose to have this many people on your side and I am running this like any other trial. Figure out how you are going to do it. I will give you a little time, but I am not having committee hearings for each individual juror. Figure out how you are going to do it, but we are not waiting 10 minutes or 15 minutes every time you make a decision."

Any death penalty sentence now has to be approved unanimously by the jury.

The trial is expected to take three weeks with dozens of witnesses called. Testimony could be gruesome, with Matos accused of hiding the bodies for days after beating and shooting them.

We expect to hear a possible motive and what type of defense is mounted, given Matos has maintained his innocence.

Court proceedings are expected to resume with opening statements Friday.