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(CNN) -- With 16 men and women having cleared various hurdles, the jury that will decide Casey Anthony's fate rounded further into shape Thursday -- setting the stage for opening arguments next week in the much-hyped trial.
Five more people -- three women and two men -- were deemed to be viable candidates Thursday to decide whether the Florida mother is guilty of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. Casey Anthony faces six other charges as well, including aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and misleading law enforcement.
Thursday's full day of court proceedings, in which potential jurors were queried by defense and prosecution lawyers, was a marked contrast from Wednesday. On that day, the jury selection process abruptly adjourned after just a few hours because of what defense attorney Jose Baez later told Tru TV's "In Session" was a "private matter."
The jury must consist of 12 jurors, with several more people serving as alternates over the course of a trial that could last as long as eight weeks.
The defense has one "strike" remaining -- allowing it to prevent a person from serving on the jury -- while the prosecution has three. Both sides started with 10 such options each, not counting scores of others whom Orange County Chief Judge Belving Perry Jr. had excluded for financial or personal hardships or other reasons.
Jury selection was discreetly moved to Pinellas County in Clearwater -- about 100 southwest of Orange County where the alleged crime occurred -- to draw from a larger pool of people unmoved by the intense media attention surrounding the case.
Despite challenges in seating a jury -- Perry had originally insisted opening arguments would occur Tuesday, May 17 -- the judge said Thursday that he planned on the trial starting in earnest Monday morning back in Orlando, where the jury will be sequestered and the trial will take place.
"As I said, 9 o'clock that jury is going to be walking through the door," Perry said.
The seven potential jurors struck from contention by the prosecution include a white woman in her 50s who said she believed "there was more to this story than we knew," a white man in his 20s who has had several relatives in jail and a black male in his 40s who didn't address questions as to whether he or anyone he knew was accused of a crime. The defense has struck a total of nine people, all of them white and most of them married with children.
The 16 still in contention, as of Thursday evening, include nine females and seven males. Two are African-American, with the rest being Caucasian.
Perry had previously insisted on having eight alternate jurors. But on Monday, he raised the possibility the trial could move forward with fewer than that number.
"We will have what we will have," he said.
Caylee was last seen in June 2008. Police began to look for her a month later after Cindy Anthony -- Casey's mother -- made three 911 calls expressing her worry about her granddaughter's disappearance.
The girl's skeletal remains were found in December of that year, in woods about one-quarter mile from the Anthony home. Prosecutors have said they plan to show Casey Anthony -- who is now 25 -- lied repeatedly about her daughter's fate, contending she used "a substance" to kill her daughter.
Casey Anthony has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Among other issues, the defense has strongly combated the prosecution's attempts to hear from an expert who would claim that evidence indicated Casey Anthony stashed Caylee's body in the trunk of her car and dumped it.
Five more people -- three women and two men -- were deemed to be viable candidates Thursday to decide whether the Florida mother is guilty of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. Casey Anthony faces six other charges as well, including aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and misleading law enforcement.
Thursday's full day of court proceedings, in which potential jurors were queried by defense and prosecution lawyers, was a marked contrast from Wednesday. On that day, the jury selection process abruptly adjourned after just a few hours because of what defense attorney Jose Baez later told Tru TV's "In Session" was a "private matter."
The jury must consist of 12 jurors, with several more people serving as alternates over the course of a trial that could last as long as eight weeks.
The defense has one "strike" remaining -- allowing it to prevent a person from serving on the jury -- while the prosecution has three. Both sides started with 10 such options each, not counting scores of others whom Orange County Chief Judge Belving Perry Jr. had excluded for financial or personal hardships or other reasons.
Jury selection was discreetly moved to Pinellas County in Clearwater -- about 100 southwest of Orange County where the alleged crime occurred -- to draw from a larger pool of people unmoved by the intense media attention surrounding the case.
Despite challenges in seating a jury -- Perry had originally insisted opening arguments would occur Tuesday, May 17 -- the judge said Thursday that he planned on the trial starting in earnest Monday morning back in Orlando, where the jury will be sequestered and the trial will take place.
"As I said, 9 o'clock that jury is going to be walking through the door," Perry said.
The seven potential jurors struck from contention by the prosecution include a white woman in her 50s who said she believed "there was more to this story than we knew," a white man in his 20s who has had several relatives in jail and a black male in his 40s who didn't address questions as to whether he or anyone he knew was accused of a crime. The defense has struck a total of nine people, all of them white and most of them married with children.
The 16 still in contention, as of Thursday evening, include nine females and seven males. Two are African-American, with the rest being Caucasian.
Perry had previously insisted on having eight alternate jurors. But on Monday, he raised the possibility the trial could move forward with fewer than that number.
"We will have what we will have," he said.
Caylee was last seen in June 2008. Police began to look for her a month later after Cindy Anthony -- Casey's mother -- made three 911 calls expressing her worry about her granddaughter's disappearance.
The girl's skeletal remains were found in December of that year, in woods about one-quarter mile from the Anthony home. Prosecutors have said they plan to show Casey Anthony -- who is now 25 -- lied repeatedly about her daughter's fate, contending she used "a substance" to kill her daughter.
Casey Anthony has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Among other issues, the defense has strongly combated the prosecution's attempts to hear from an expert who would claim that evidence indicated Casey Anthony stashed Caylee's body in the trunk of her car and dumped it.
