CLEVELAND — A jury has been selected for the re-trial of a man accused of the 1974 murder of his wife who insists he had nothing to do with the crime.
"I want justice for my wife," Isiah Andrews told a judge Thursday.
In 1975, a Cuyahoga County jury found Andrews guilty of stabbing Regina Andrews to death in Cleveland and sentenced him to life in prison.
But in 2019, an appeals court overturned that conviction after it was discovered prosecutors in the first trial failed to disclose that police originally believed another man committed that murder.
Andrews was released from prison after serving 46 years behind bars for the crime to await a new trial.
It's a case that's expected to center around the testimony of six witnesses who are now dead.
In their place, attorneys said people will be brought into court to read from transcripts of the testimony from the original 1975 trial.
Already, prosecutors accused Andrews and his attorneys of making statements aimed at painting the 83-year-old defendant as an "innocent and frail old man in order to garner sympathy in the public."
In a filing with the court, prosecutors pointed to interviews given on the first day of jury selection in which the defense called the decision to re-try the case "gross" and "disgusting."
Visiting Judge Timothy McGinty issued a gag order in the case Thursday, preventing Andrews and attorneys on both sides from commenting on the case during the duration of the trial.
Opening statements in the case are expected Friday morning with testimony expected to wrap-up early next week.
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