Jury chosen in 'Clark Rockefeller' trial

BOSTON, May 27 (UPI) -- The 16 jurors chosen for the Boston kidnapping trial of the man who calls himself Clark Rockefeller are mostly young, college-age people, trial watchers say.

Five jurors were to chosen Wednesday from among dozens of candidates in Suffolk County, Mass., Superior Court as trial preparations continued in the case of German-born Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, The Boston Globe reported.

"I guess I've never seen a pool of so many college-age kids and college kids," defense attorney Jeffrey Denner told reporters outside the courtroom.

Prosecutors say Gerhartsreiter was posing as a member of the wealthy U.S. family during his marriage to U.S. executive Sandra Boss when he abducted their daughter, Reigh Storrow Mills Boss, 7, during a custodial visit following a bitter divorce, The Boston Globe reported.

Attorneys planned opening statements for Thursday. Before that, however, they were set to argue a series of motions, including a key defense move to block jurors from watching jail house interviews "Rockefeller" gave to the Globe and NBC's "Today Show." Gerhartsreiter's lawyers reportedly contend he was insane when he took his daughter from her home in Boston's Back Bay, and so could not have decided voluntarily to give the media interviews.

Prosecutors urged the judge to refer to the defendant as Gerhartsreiter rather than "Clark Rockefeller," saying the name was made up "out of whole cloth."