Jury Selection Begins In Trial Of Jose Mesa

Cleveland Indians pitcher Jose Mesa was in court Monday when jury selection began in his rape trial, two days before the start of the baseball season.

Cuyahoga County Judge Thomas Curran and lawyers for both sides started questioning 42 potential jurors. Opening arguments were expected to begin today.

Mesa, charged with rape, gross sexual imposition and felonious assault, arrived at court with his wife, Mirla. The Indians begin the season Wednesday at Oakland without Mesa, their star bullpen closer with 85 saves the last two seasons.

Mesa faces three to 10 years in prison if convicted of rape and two to eight years if convicted of assault.

Curran issued an order allowing one camera in the courtroom and forbidding the filming or photographing of witnesses who request not to be.

The charges are related to a complaint by two 26-year-old women who alleged that Mesa and a friend fondled them at a motel in suburban Lakewood after meeting them in a downtown nightclub Dec. 22.

Major League Baseball has given the Indians permission to place Mesa on the restricted list indefinitely.

Mesa has pitched poorly this spring.

Mesa faces a separate trial on a gun charge after the rape trial. Mesa’s lawyer, Gerald Messerman, estimated the trials will last a total of two weeks.