At Times, The Defendants And Their Attorneys Struggled To Keep Their
Eyes Open

MOONSHINE TRIAL STARTS WITH EFFORT TO EMPANEL A JURY

One Juror Originally From New England Said The Price Of Scotch Was
"Exorbitant" Here Compared With The $10 A Bottle In The North.

Seven defendants.

Ten attorneys.

One hundred four potential jurors.

At 6 p.m. Monday, the attorneys in the moonshine case that began Monday in
federal court were still narrowing their selections on prospective jurors.

The case is centered on Ralph Hale Sr., a 61-year-old Ferrum man who is
charged with running a high-producing moonshine ring. All the other
defendants left in the case are either related to Hale or implicated in his
alleged moonshine operation.

Most of the other defendants in the case - Hale's wife, Judy; his son,
Ralph Dwayne Hale Jr.; his sister, Shirley Hale Whitlow; Barbara Ellen Hale
and Autrey Lee Cooper, who are no relation to Ralph Hale Sr. but have been
charged in connection with the moonshine ring he allegedly ran - lined the
wall behind the table where their defense attorneys sat. Ralph Hale Sr. sat
apart from his family, as did William Lewis "Bill" Helms, who is also on
trial. They sat behind their attorneys, Roscoe Reynolds of Martinsville and
Jonathan Rogers of Roanoke, respectively.

Round after round of juror vetting revealed several things.

In the morning, when the first round of potential jurors came in, Chief
U.S. District Judge Samuel Wilson asked them to raise their hands if they
had heard about the case.

It took until juror No. 5 in the first round for Wilson to find someone who
hadn't already read about the case in the news paper.

"Hallelujah," he replied. Later in the day, it was revealed that one
self-professed "news junkie" in the jury pool had sketched the outline of
the alleged operation on her jury questionnaire. Assistant U.S. Attorney
Craig "Jake" Jacobsen, who is prosecuting the case with federal prosecutors
Sharon Burnham and Belleanne Markizon of Washington, D.C., moved to have
the woman stricken from the juror pool.

As jury selection wore on, each defendant dutifully did the stand-up,
sit-down drill and offered the occasional weak smile when introduced to
each successive jury pool. Salem attorneys Jack Gregory and Jeff Dorsey are
representing Whitlow and Judy Hale, respectively. Ralph Hale Jr. is
represented by Radford attorney Jimmy Turk, while Roanoke attorney Randy
Cargill is representing Barbara Ellen Hale. Cooper's attorney is Mark
Claytor of Salem.

At times, the defendants and their attorneys struggled to keep their eyes
open - as did the occasional potential juror, such as the one who offered,
"Sometimes I even fall asleep when my wife's talking to me."

Other potential problems arose as well.

"You're 89 years old - congratulations," Jacobsen said to one of the
potential jurors. "Do you have any problem hearing at all?"

"What's that?" the juror replied.

The odd conspiracy theorist and disbeliever in the justice system aside,
the question that seemed to raise the most challenges from attorneys was:
"Do you think your attitude about alcohol would permit you to be a fair and
impartial juror in this case?"

Several people responded that they had family issues with alcohol but that
they could be impartial jurors in the case.

Then there was the juror originally from New England who said the price of
Scotch was "exorbitant" here compared with the $10 a bottle in the North.

"I bootleg," she admitted with a giggle.