The defense team for Austin Thompson, the teen accused of a mass shooting in Raleigh's Hedingham neighborhood in October 2022, is asking that potential jurors be individually interviewed, and that each prospective juror fill out a questionnaire before a jury is selected.
Daniel Meier, a Durham Defense attorney who is not affiliated with Thompson's case, said that's not a surprise.
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"Individual voir dire is often asked for in capital cases and high profile cases, but it is not usually granted," he said.
In a court filing, Thompson's attorneys said they want to be able to question each person about how much they know about the case without others overhearing.
The questionnaire they are proposing has 23 questions, including whether someone ever lived in or knows someone in the Hedingham neighborhood where the shootings took place. The rest of the questions are "pretty standard," Meier said. "We always ask occupation, spouse's occupation, where they live, kids, do they know anything about the case, etc.”
A status hearing about the case is set for Thursday at the Wake County Justice Center in Raleigh.
Thompson is scheduled to stand trial beginning in February. He is charged with five counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with deadly weapon with intent to kill and one count of assault with firearm on law enforcement officer.
Police said Thompson first killed his brother, James Thompson, 16, inside their Hedingham home, then fled through the neighborhood to the nearby Neuse River Greenway, shooting another four people along the way.
Friends Nicole Connors, 52, and Marcille "Lynn" Gardner were shot on Sahalee Way. Connors died. Gardner survived but spent weeks in the hospital.
Raleigh police officer Gabriel Torres, 29, was on his way to work when he was shot and killed outside his home on Osprey Cove Drive.
Mary Marshall, 34, and Susan Karnatz, 49, were shot on the greenway and both died from their injuries.
Raleigh police officer Casey Clark was injured during the search for the shooter.
Police found Thompson hours later in a shed, close to six miles from his home. In his possession was a shotgun, $772 in cash, multiple pistols, knives, rifles, rifle magazines, ammunition rounds and bullets.
The death penalty is off the table, because he was 15 at the time of the crimes, and federal law prohibits the death penalty for those who are younger than 18 when the crime is committed.
His attorneys have also filed notice of an intention to use "diminished capacity" and "voluntary intoxication ... of a prescribed medication" in his defense. At the same time, plaintiffs in the civil case against him allege his lawyers are withholding information about his mental health and medications they are seeking to build a case against him.
