Jury selection to begin for convicted felon in Wilmington rape trial

By: F.T. Norton
StarNewsOnline.com

A Wilmington man with a violent criminal history will go on trial this week in a 2010 rape police say he committed five days after being released from prison for slitting the throat of a defense attorney in 1996.

Jury selection begins Monday in Sampson County in the rape trial of Christopher Harold Goins, 37.

Goins was denied a change of venue, but was granted a jury from out of the county because he was convicted in the vicious assault of the Wilmington attorney. New Hanover County judges recused themselves. A judge from another county is hearing the case.

According to the New Hanover County District Attorney's Office, jury selection will take place in Sampson County. When a jury is seated, jurors will be bused to Wilmington each day for trial.

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