The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, February 10, 2015 — 7

AP PHOTO/THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, SMILEY N. POOL

Stephenville police barricades block traffic outside the Donald R. Jones Justice Center in Stephenville, Texas.
Jury selected for ‘American 
Sniper’ double murder trials 

Autopsy finds 
defective air 
bag caused 
man’s death

On unemployment, 
Obama wins majority

PAUL SHERMAN/Daily

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks at an Economic Club of Detroit meeting in Detroit Wednesday, Feb. 4 . 
Democrats compare Jeb 
Bush to Mitt Romney 

Ten women and 

two men to serve as 
jurors for the trial 

STEPHENVILLE, 
TEXAS 

(AP) — Carl A jury was seated 
Monday in the trial of a man 
charged with killing the for-
mer Navy SEAL depicted in the 
Oscar-nominated movie “Amer-
ican Sniper,” after extra efforts 
to keep publicity about the case 
and the movie from preventing 
a fair trial.

Ten women and two men 

will serve as jurors for the 
trial of Eddie Ray Routh start-
ing Wednesday. Routh, a for-
mer Marine, is charged with 
capital murder in the deaths 
of 38-year-old Chris Kyle and 
Kyle’s friend, 35-year-old Chad 
Littlefield. Opening statements 
are Wednesday.

The movie based on Kyle’s 

memoir as a celebrated sniper 
who served four tours in Iraq 
has grossed nearly $300 mil-
lion. In response to the attention 
paid to the Kyle case, officials 
called in more than four times 
as many potential jurors as they 
would for a regular trial.

The county’s top prosecu-

tor and the judge overseeing 
the case both told prospective 
jurors they would only insist 
that jurors who have seen the 
movie or read the book set their 
prior knowledge aside when 
they hear evidence. The movie 
ends with a depiction of Kyle 
meeting Routh, followed by 
footage from Kyle’s funeral.

“It’s hard not to have knowl-

edge of this case,” Erath County 
District Attorney Alan Nash 
said. “It’s pervasive.”

Nash asked potential jurors 

Monday morning if they were 

unable to set aside what they’d 
already heard. No one among 
about 130 potential jurors in 
court raised their hand.

State District Judge Jason 

Cashon estimated that no more 
than two dozen potential jurors 
had been dismissed from serv-
ing due to pretrial publicity. 
Cashon denied defense motions 
to delay the trial or move it to a 
different county.

Routh’s attorneys plan to 

pursue an insanity defense. 
Prosecutors won’t seek the 
death penalty. He faces life in 
prison without parole if con-
victed.

Family members have said 

Routh, 27, struggled with post-
traumatic stress disorder after 
leaving the Marines in 2010. 
The small arms technician 
served in Iraq and was deployed 
to earthquake-ravaged Haiti. 
Kyle took Routh to the shoot-

ing range after Routh’s mother 
asked if he could help her son.

Kyle made more than 300 

kills as a sniper for SEAL Team 
3, according to his own count 
and earned two Silver Stars for 
valor. After leaving the military, 
Kyle volunteered with veterans 
facing mental health problems, 
often taking them shooting.

About two hours after Kyle, 

Littlefield and Routh arrived at 
Rough Creek Lodge and Resort 
on Feb. 2, 2013, an employee dis-
covered the bodies of Kyle and 
Littlefield at the remote range.

Authorities say Routh drove 

to his sister’s house in Kyle’s 
truck, telling her and her hus-
band that he had killed Kyle and 
Littlefield.

His sister told police that 

Routh “was out of his mind, 
saying people were sucking his 
soul and that he could smell the 
pigs.”

Both candidates 
wish to benefit the 
wealthy, according 
to opposition party

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt 

Romney opposed the govern-
ment’s rescue of U.S. automakers. 
So did Jeb Bush.

Both worked in finance and 

backed the Wall Street bailout. 
Both are advocates of tax cuts 
that Democrats contend only ben-
efit the wealthy and big business.

While the first actual votes of 

the next presidential campaign 
may be a year away, Democrats 
already are drawing such com-
parisons between the former 
Florida governor and the GOP’s 
2012 White House nominee — 
and they don’t consider them flat-
tering.

Democrats 
are 
unwilling 

to let Bush define himself as a 
reformer who aims to close the 
gap between the rich and poor, so 
they are trying to paint him as this 
campaign’s Romney. The ex-Mas-
sachusetts governor struggled 
in 2012 against criticism related 
to his work in private equity and 

his portrayal by President Barack 
Obama’s allies as a cold-hearted 
plutocrat.

“We don’t need to try to show 

that Jeb is like Romney. He pretty 
much is Romney,” said Eddie Vale, 
vice president of American Bridge 
21st Century, a liberal group set 
up to conduct opposition research 
on Republicans. “When it comes 
to any ideas or policies, he’s the 
same as Romney.”

That line of criticism was 

noticeable this past week after 
Bush gave his first major policy 
speech as a potential presiden-
tial candidate. His remarks to the 
Detroit Economic Club empha-
sized an upbeat economic mes-
sage and touched on overhauling 
the nation’s immigration system 
and trying to improve the lives of 
children underserved by public 
schools.

Democrats countered by cir-

culating the transcript of a 2012 
interview in which Bush cited his 
opposition to the auto bailout. In 
the interview, Bush said the auto 
rescue, a key issue in Michigan, 
was “driven by politics” and he 
noted the Obama administration’s 
role in shuttering car dealerships 
and providing the United Auto 
Workers union with an equity 

stake in Chrysler.

Obama’s team successfully 

used that bailout as a wedge 
against Romney in Michigan 
and Ohio, repeatedly referring 
to a 2008 Romney op-ed with 
the headline, “Let Detroit Go 
Bankrupt.” Although Romney 
did not write the headline and 
advocated a managed bankrupt-
cy for the industry, it created the 
impression that he was willing 
to forgo thousands of U.S. auto 
jobs.

Bush’s early approach to his 

potential campaign signals a 
desire to avoid such pitfalls, as 
well as Romney’s most notable 
gaffe — his behind-closed-door 
dismissal of the “47 percent” of 
Americans who, he said, don’t pay 
income taxes. 

Lisa Wagner, Romney’s 2012 

Midwest fundraising director, 
said that once voters meet Bush, 
“they see his head and his heart 
are connected” and they are “very, 
very taken” with his “sincerity.”

During a question-and-answer 

session after the Detroit speech, 
Bush said losing his first bid for 
Florida governor in 1994 taught 
him that winning campaigns 
requires building an emotional 
attachment with voters. 

Forensic report 
shows blunt force 
injury to the neck 

 HOUSTON (AP) — An 

autopsy has found that a metal 
disc from a defective air bag 
sliced into a Texas man’s neck 
and killed him after a low-
speed car accident last month 
near Houston.

The Harris County Insti-

tute 
of 
Forensic 
Sciences 

concluded that Carlos Solis 
had suffered no other serious 
injuries, and his death was 
accidental. The report, which 
became public late last week, 
listed the cause of death as 
blunt-force injuries to the 
neck.

Solis, 35, a father of two, 

died Jan. 18 in the Houston 
suburb of Spring. His 2002 
Honda Accord had a driver’s 
air bag made by Takata Corp. 
of Japan. Those can inflate 
with too much force, causing 
them to blow apart a metal 
inflator canister and send 
shrapnel into the passenger 
compartment.

Solis is among six people 

killed and 64 injured by the 
inflator mechanisms, which 
have caused the recalls of 19 
million vehicles worldwide 
and touched off investigations 
by the U.S. Justice Depart-
ment and safety regulators.

Takata 
offered 
condo-

lences to Solis’ family and 
said it’s committed to work-
ing with the U.S. government 

and automakers to “take all 
actions needed to promote 
public safety.” Honda offered 
its condolences, saying it is 
“currently in communication 
with representatives of the 
family in an effort to further 
investigate the situation and 
to address their concerns.”

The white metal disc was 

2¾ inches in diameter and 
weighed 
about 
13 
ounces, 

according to the report. It 
caused a gaping cut in Solis’ 
neck that severed an artery 
and vein. “Appearance con-
sisted of a slightly distorted 
air bag inflator component,” 
the report stated. The disc 
lodged in the right side of 
Solis’ neck near his shoulder, 
according to the report.

Pictures 
of 
the 
crash 

showed it did little damage to 
the left front bumper, fender 
and hood of Solis’ car.

Solis bought the car in April 

from an independent dealer in 
the Houston area. It was part 
of 2011 recall to fix a defec-
tive driver’s air bag inflator, 
but neither the dealer nor 
two previous owners had the 
recall repairs done. Honda 
has said it mailed recall noti-
fication letters to a previous 
owner of the Accord starting 
in 2011, but it had not yet sent 
a letter to Solis. The company 
urged anyone with a vehicle 
recalled for air bag problems 
to take the cars to dealers as 
soon as possible.

Solis’ 
family 
is 
suing 

Honda, Takata and the dealer 
who sold Solis the car.

American views 
have improved 

slightly, according 
to recent poll finds 

WASHINGTON 
(AP) 
— 

Americans’ views of Presi-
dent Barack Obama have 
improved slightly in the past 
two months, and opinions 
are more positive about the 
direction of the country and 
the health of the economy, 
an 
Associated 
Press-GfK 

poll finds.

A 
slim 
majority 
now 

approves of the way Obama 
is 
handling 
unemploy-

ment, according to the poll, 
conducted before Friday’s 
release 
of 
a 
surprisingly 

strong jobs report.

Forty-seven 
percent 
of 

those surveyed approve of 
how Obama is doing his job, 
compared with 41 percent 
in December, and 51 percent 
approve of his handling of 
unemployment, 
compared 

with 44 percent before.

Nearly half say the econ-

omy is good now, while 41 
percent 
thought 
that 
in 

December. 
In 
December 

2013, only one-third called 
the economy good.

Approval 
of 
the 
way 

Obama is handling the econ-
omy improved slightly, 41 
percent to 45 percent, over 
the past two months.

Friday’s 
report 
showed 

that U.S. employers added 
257,000 
jobs 
in 
January, 

and the average hourly wage 
grew by 12 cents to $24.75, 
the biggest gain since Sep-
tember 2008. Hourly pay has 
increased 2.2 percent in the 
past year.

“We’ve come a long way 

these past six years since we 
suffered the worst financial 
crisis since the Great Depres-
sion,” Obama said Friday in 

Indianapolis. “In 2014, our 
economy created more than 
3.1 million jobs, and that’s 
the best year of job growth 
since 
the 
1990s,” 
adding 

that “America is poised for 
another good year.”

Despite the increase in 

jobs, the unemployment rate 
rose to 5.7 percent from 5.6 
percent, 
largely 
because 

more people began look-
ing for jobs. An increase in 
the number of job hunters 
can indicate that people are 
more confident in their abil-
ity to find work, even if the 
official unemployment rate 
goes up.

But people still feel that 

their own recovery is lag-
ging, the poll shows, with 
only 35 percent saying their 
own family has completely 
or mostly recovered from 
economic downturn.

Just 27 percent see the 

job market where they live 
as being most of the way to 
recovery, far less than the 
number that thinks big busi-
nesses (55 percent) and the 
stock market (53 percent) 
have bounced all the way 
back.

People also fear the pos-

sibility of another down-
turn. 
Three-quarters 
say 

the government has not put 
the right rules and regula-
tions in place to stop another 
recession from occurring.

Obama has been keen to 

take credit for the improving 
economic landscape, arguing 
that new financial regula-
tions, an early boost in gov-
ernment spending and the 
bailout of the auto industry 
under his watch were essen-
tial to the recovery.

Economic 
concerns 

remain at the top of Ameri-
cans’ minds, the AP-GfK 
poll shows, with 9 in 10 call-
ing the economy a very or 
extremely important issue, 
significantly more than any 

other issue asked about in 
the poll.

The poll finds that people 

are slightly more likely to 
trust Democrats than Repub-
licans on handling economic 
issues, 33 percent to 28 per-
cent.

Improving views of the 

president also came with a 
small increase in the per-
centage 
that 
thinks 
the 

country is headed in the 
right direction — 39 percent 
compared with 33 percent in 
December.

Much of that improvement 

was among Democrats, two-
thirds of whom now think 
the country is headed in the 
right 
direction. 
Improved 

ratings 
among 
Democrats 

appeared to boost Obama’s 
approval rating.

Bolstered by lower unem-

ployment, greater consumer 
confidence and evidence of 
a rise in his approval rat-
ings, Obama has made an 
aggressive start to his final 
two years in office even 
after 
November’s 
elec-

tions gave control of Con-
gress to Republicans. The 
White House hopes a stron-
ger recovery gives Obama 
the credibility to confront 
Republicans with his own 
economic pitch.

In spite of growing opti-

mism 
about 
politics 
and 

the economy, 8 in 10 people 
questioned have little con-
fidence 
that 
Obama 
and 

Republicans in Congress can 
work together to solve the 
country’s problems.

Americans 
blame 
both 

sides 
for 
the 
perceived 

impasse. About half thinks 
Obama doesn’t compromise 
enough 
with 
Republicans 

to get things done, while 6 
in 10 say Republicans don’t 
compromise 
enough 
with 

Obama. Fewer than 2 in 10 
think either side compro-
mises too much.

