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Jury Selection Under Way in Foster Child Death

St. Louis Public Radio
Published Nov. 3, 2003 at 11:32 a.m. CST

By AP/KWMU

Linn, Mo. – Jury selection begins today in trial of a man charged with killing his two-year-old foster son.

John Wesley Dilley is charged with second-degree murder, second-degree assault and child abuse in death of Dominic James. If convicted he could get life in prison. He's 36 and has pleaded innocent.

The boy's death set off a political trial of the state's foster care system that included three government investigations, and a restructuring of the state Department of Social Services.

Prosecutors say Dilley shook the boy so violently that he fatally damaged his brain. Dilley's defense attorneys say Dilley did nothing wrong, and that Dominic's death was caused by other medical conditions.

The trial was moved from Springfield to the Osage County Courthouse in Linn, outside Jefferson City.

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