Judge Limits Photos Prosecution Can Use in Lululemon Opening Statement

A judge limited the use of graphic photographs that prosecutors may show in opening statements in the trial of a woman charged with killing a co-worker at a yoga clothing shop in suburban Washington.

The jury pool in the Lululemon murder trial is down to 65 from 149, News4’s Chris Gordon reported. The final selection begins Wednesday morning, when prosecutors can strike or remove 10 people and the defense can eliminate 20.

It should take no more than half an hour to select 12 jurors and five alternates at this point, Judge Robert Greenberg said. Opening statements will follow.

Lawyers disagree about what the jury will see, though.

At the crime scene at the Bethesda Row Lululemon Athletica store last March, victim Jayna Murray was found with gruesome head wounds inflicted with a hammer and a knife. She had been beaten with a display rack and there was a rope around her neck.

Lawyers for defendant Brittany Norwood asked the judge to prohibit prosecutors from using the graphic images in its opening statement, because the pictures could be more prejudicial than probative.

Other pictures, including one showing Norwood as she was found inside the shop after police were called, were permissible, the Associated Press reported.

Ivy Huang, Jayna Murray's former roommate at George Washington University, went to court Tuesday to watch the proceedings.

"My hope is a fair trial and that there will be closure for my friend’s family,” she said.