Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Sam Penrod ReportingJury selection has begun in the case of missing teenager Kiplyn Davis. Timmy Brent Olsen is on trial for perjury, accused of lying to a grand jury about what he knows about her disappearance.
Seventy one potential jurors arrived to court this morning. Right now, they are still deciding on 12 of them and two alternates who will hear the case.
This trial is the first step in what prosecutors hope will finally solve the mystery of what happened to Kiplyn Davis.
Timmy Olsen is the first person to stand trial on perjury charges, after federal prosecutors indicted five men last year, accusing them of lying about what they know and in some cases, their involvement in the disappearance of Kiplyn Davis.
Kiplyn, who was 15-years old at the time, disappeared in May of 1995 and is presumed to have been killed, although her body has still not been found.
Of the five men indicted, two have taken plea deals and will testify against Olsen.
Olsen is at the focus of the case, because in January he was charged with Kiplyn's murder and will face those murder charges in court later this fall, after this federal trial is over.
Olsen's attorney calls the case against his client circumstantial and says many of the statements that Olsen is accused of lying about to the grand jury were made when he was drunk.
There will be a lot of testimony from numerous witnesses and little physical evidence, although this case is only about lying to a grand jury and not about Kiplyn's actual murder.
But it is important, marking the very first time in court that Kiplyn's case has been heard and could influence how the murder case against Olsen is handled.
The jury should be seated later this evening and opening statements will begin tomorrow. The first witnesses expected to take the stand will be Richard and Tamara Davis, Kiplyn's parents. The trial should last at least two weeks.
