The State - News from Feb. 27, 1985

Jury selection in a Ukiah double murder trial allegedly involving a backwoods marijuana deal came to a halt after a state appellate court told the trial judge either to vacate his earlier oral order barring the public and news media from the jury selection, or to file written findings that there are overriding reasons to close the proceedings. At the request of defense attorneys for Willits mill worker Thomas John Marston, the selection of the jury was then suspended. A hearing on the matter was scheduled for March 6 in the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco. Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Arthur Broaddus on Friday closed the sessions in which potential jurors were asked about their feelings on the death penalty. The Ukiah Daily Journal appealed that ruling to the higher court in San Francisco. Marston, 25, is charged with gunning down two Laytonville area residents on Jan. 18, 1984, over 2 1/2 pounds of marijuana that he had allegedly arranged to purchase from the pair.