Jury selection begins in Stanford trial

More than two-and-a-half years after being indicted for allegedly bilking investors out of $7 billion in a massive Ponzi scheme, jury selection began Monday for jailed Texas financier R. Allen Stanford's trial.

The process began with a panel of 80 potential jurors. They were questioned by Judge David Hitner and were mostly asked about what they already know or have heard in the media about Stanford.

Hitner whittled the pool down to 37 potential jurors, who were then questioned by attorneys. The final choices will be made Tuesday morning.

Hitner promised the potential jurors that the trial will take no longer than six weeks, but prosecutors and defense attorneys have said they will each need a month to present their cases. Stanford's attorneys say they expect the financier will testify.

KPRC Local 2 legal analyst Brian Wice said putting Stanford on the stand is a bad move.

"Think back, the last two defendants in high profile white collar crime cases that took the stand -- Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling. We all know how that movie ended," Wice said.

Stanford's trial was delayed while he spent more than eight months last year under treatment in a North Carolina federal prison hospital after he was declared incompetent due to an anti-anxiety drug addiction developed while jailed in Houston.

Last month, a judge ruled Stanford was competent.

Stanford's attorneys had sought to delay the trial, claiming the financier remains incompetent and they needed more time to prepare.

Skip Swingle said he wants justice after he lost his life savings.

"All of a sudden, you're 60 years old and you're looking to start over in this situation. It's a worse-case scenario," Swingle said. "The victims -- we just got to pick up the pieces and try to move forward as best we can."

Paul Gallager is one of the 30,000 investors that Stanford has been accused of swindling.

"I'm not prone to sympathy for the guy in any shape or form," Gallager said. "He's lived several magnitudes of lifestyles better that I can ever dream -- on my money."

Stanford said he is not guilty. He has gone through several legal teams.

"I'm going to fight this thing," Stanford said in an interview with KPRC Local 2 in April 2009. "If they do indict me and arrest me, hopefully, I'm going to get out on bond and, hopefully, I'm going to be able to carry this into the fight of my life."

Stanford has never been granted bond. He has been in federal custody since his arrest.

Stanford's current attorneys claim that a severe beating in jail and an addiction to prescription drugs have made him incapable of participating in his own defense.

"I think he's perfectly competent to stand trial," Gallager said. "I've been reading about the shenanigans going on, and I think he's trying to outsmart the system."

Sandra Dorrell said she has made up her mind. Her life savings were invested with Stanford's firm. She lost more than $1 million.

"I feel like I got conned," she said. "I'm definitely angry at this person for stealing my life savings and stealing my life. I had worked so hard for that money and so hard for that security. It wasn't so much the money, it was just the security of knowing it was there if I needed it."

Dorrell is trying to find money to pay her medical bills after she survived kidney and liver transplants in March. Her daughter quit her job to care for her.

"It's been three long agonizing years waking up every day thinking about this, thinking about my life would be so different if I just had some of my money back," Dorrell said.

Jury selection was expected to continue into Tuesday.