Ark Valley News - Jury selection in begins in murder trial

Jury selection in begins in murder trial
By David Dinell
Last Updated: February 05, 2015

Jury selection in the murder trial of Daniel U. Perez, 55, got underway Monday morning at the Sedgwick County Courthouse. The selection process is expected to take all day and perhaps into Tuesday before opening statements are made, court officials said. Attorneys are selecting the jurors from a pool of about 70 candidates.

Shortly before 10 a.m., they filed into the courtroom of Judge Joseph Bribiesca on the eight floor of the courthouse. Because of the crowded conditions in the room, observers were not allowed in. Once underway, the trial could take one to three weeks, officials said.

Perez is charged with the first-degree premeditated murder of Patricia Hughes on June 26, 2003, in a residential complex in the 9500 block of North Oliver, northeast of Valley Center. Perez, who also used the name Lou Castro, has a checkered past, including being a fugitive who had been previously charged with sex crimes against children in Texas.

At the Kansas home, he ran "the compound," which was a group of three houses, allegedly on the proceeds from insurance settlements. The charge with Hughes involves an incident in which it was first thought that she drowned. However, a witness later came forward and said that was not the case.

Former members of the compound have described Perez as an overbearing leader who made numerous claims about supernatural powers. In addition to the murder charge, Perez is facing almost 40 other charges on counts such as aggravated assault, criminal threat, sexual exploitation of a child, sodomy and rape. There also are charges concerning placement of false information on credit and insurance applications.