DWI trial starts for Leonard Little
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Jury selection was to continue Tuesday in the drunken-driving trial of St. Louis Rams defensive end Leonard Little. Little, 30, was arrested April 24 on Interstate 64 in the St. Louis suburb of Ladue and charged with speeding and driving while intoxicated after allegedly failing three field sobriety tests. No one was injured, and Little has pleaded not guilty to both charges. Little was charged as a persistent offender because he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in a 1998 drunken-driving accident in downtown St. Louis that killed Susan Gutweiler of St. Louis County. In that case, Little was sentenced to three months in jail, four years probation and 1,000 hours of community service. He also was suspended without pay for the first half of the 1999 season. If convicted of the latest DWI charge, Little could face up to four years in prison along with another NFL suspension. Don Schneider, a spokesman for St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, has said jury selection could take a couple of days, and the trial could take a week. Jury selection went slowly Monday, with potential panelists interviewed separately by Circuit Judge Emmett O’Brien, Little’s prosecutors and the athlete’s defenders. O’Brien has not issued a gag order, but previously said the prosecution and defense had agreed not to talk about the case until it goes to trial. O’Brien also has barred prosecutors from mentioning at trial Little’s involvement in the fatal 1998 wreck. Little, a Pro Bowl selection in 2003, last season had 46 tackles, 6½ sacks and recovered four fumbles. Little’s supporters at the St. Louis County courthouse included Jim Hanifan, the former Rams assistant who last year retired after more than three decades of NFL coaching. |