The trial for a man authorities accuse of slowly killing his wife with antifreeze is still set to begin this week despite a slight delay due to a last-minute schedule change.
Originally slated to begin yesterday in Middlesex Superior Court, jury selection will start tomorrow for the trial of James Keown, a former Waltham man and former Missouri radio host, who is charged with slowly poisoning his wife, Julie Oldag Keown, in September 2004.
Jessica Venezia, spokeswoman for the Middlesex District Attorney's Office, said Friday's final motion hearing was continued until yesterday, causing a two-day delay.
Venezia said Assistant District Attorney Nat Yeager and defense attorneys Matthew Feinberg and Matthew Kamholtz are prepared to begin selecting a jury tomorrow morning.
Expecting jury selection to take more than one day, opening statements are expected Friday morning, said Venezia.
Since the case began, the case has been plagued by delays.
Nearly a year after his arrest in 2005, Keown changed defense attorneys, citing "irreconcilable differences."
The trial was continued from a November 2007 start date to the beginning of March 2008. It was pushed back once again to the beginning of April after last minute paperwork and evidentiary findings were not filed in time.
In April, Judge Geraldine Hines declared a mistrial after the defense's key medical expert had to undergo bowel surgery just hours before opening statements.
Julie Oldag Keown died after she was admitted for the second time to Newton-Wellesley Hospital with various flu-like symptoms. Her death was later ruled a homicide by acute and chronic ethylene glycol poisoning.
Authorities say Keown had spiked his wife's Gatorade with antifreeze, a thick, syrupy substance that goes undetected when mixed with other liquids.
Following a year-long investigation, in November 2005 police arrested Keown while on air. He had moved back to Missouri after his wife's death.
Keown is being held without bail.
