Jury selection begins > Boobar says he’ll be acquitted in strangling

Ronald Wayne Boobar predicted Monday that he would be acquitted of murder as jury selection began in Bangor at his trial in the November 1988 strangling death of a 14-year-old girl.

Despite a large body of physical evidence the prosecution has compiled, Boobar and his lawyer plan to convince the jury that someone else killed Rebecca Pelkey, a Bangor seventh-grader.

“It’s hard to prove somebody was there when they weren’t,” Boobar said as he was led to Penobscot County Superior Court from the neighboring jail where he has been housed for almost 16 months.

Boobar, 25, a Milo native who most recently lived in Bangor, was charged in December 1988, a few weeks after fir tippers found Pelkey’s body in the Hermon woods. Pelkey’s friends told investigators they had last seen her a week before when she and another girl got into a station wagon with a man they called Ron. The friend got out, leaving Pelkey alone with the man.

According to court documents, the state’s case includes scars and scrapes found on trees and rocks near where Pelkey died that match markings on Boobar’s station wagon, and evidence that hairs found on Pelkey’s body matched Boobar’s hair. The documents also indicate that the two had had intercourse.

Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Hjelm would not comment on the state’s case.

Boobar has maintained his innocence with an outspokenness rarely seen locally, a characteristic that put him at odds with the first lawyer assigned to represent him. J. Hilary Billings dropped Boobar as a client after Boobar released documents related to the case to a Bangor television station.

Martha J. Harris, his current lawyer, said she was undecided Monday about whether she would put Boobar on the witness stand. But she said she would show “that Mr. Boobar didn’t do it. They’ve got the wrong man.”

The state closed in on one suspect too early in the investigation and has “a lot of holes” in its case, she said, explaining that she would show that other people should have been investigated more fully.

The state budget crunch and a high percentage of potential jurors familiar with the case may prolong the proceedings.

Before more intensive selection begins, 47 qualified prospective jurors must be found among the original pool of 112. But many knew potential witnesses or had more than basic knowledge of the case and were disqualified. By late Monday afternoon, only 22 had been told to come back.

Furthermore, Justice Jack O. Smith stopped the proceedings at 4 p.m., referring to a “new directive” asking the courts to help the state cope with its revenue shortfall by reducing the amount of overtime accumulated by court employees.