Jury selection in the murder trial of Shannon Gilday is underway. The trial is scheduled to begin on May 1 in Shelby County.
Gilday is charged with shooting Jordan Morgan to death in her father’s home in Madison County four years ago.
The trial will take place in Shelbyville due to the intense media attention on the case.
Wesley Morgan, a former state representative who was injured in the confrontation with Gilday, said Friday the family continues to oppose a plea deal for Gilday.
“It is a calculated delay, delay, and basically what they try to do is they try to wear out the process so that eventually people just get throws their hands up and say, ‘Alright, what kind of plea can we take?’”
“My wife, my ex-wife, Jordan's mother, and I have both said that we are only satisfied by letting this case go to a jury of 12, and whatever that jury of 12 decides, that's what we're going to go with.”
Gilday, of northern Kentucky, is eligible for the death penalty should the jury convict him.
In January, the defense said Gilday was more likely to receive a fair trial in Shelbyville because of the attention the case received in the Lexington media market.
The seat of Shelby County is 30 miles east of Louisville and 45 miles west of Lexington. It is 70 miles northwest of Richmond.
Wesley Morgan represented the 81st House district for one term, in 2017 and 2018, as a Republican. He was defeated for re-election in the primary.
Morgan had built a house in Richmond with a 2,000-square-foot underground bunker, anticipating civil unrest. This attracted the attention of Gilday, according to court records.
A search of Gilday’s apartment in northern Kentucky turned up notes about Morgan’s home.
On Friday, Mogan noted that his family’s encounter with Gilday was over in 15 minutes but that it has taken more than four years to bring him to trial.
