Abaroa is charged in the April 2005 stabbing death of his pregnant wife Janet. He allegedly told police he found his wife in their home on Ferrand Drive in Durham after returning from a soccer game.
Before jury selection got underway Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson denied a motion to dismiss the case based on Abaroa's defense team's claims that investigators zeroed in on Abaroa from the start at the exclusion of other potential suspects.
Judge Hudson ruled that the defense failed to show police operated in bad faith and that they either intentionally destroyed or ignored exculpatory evidence.
The defense argued in court that a blood stain on a door frame of the Abaroa home contained a DNA mixture matching Janet and another person. The defense claimed that initial tests showed no match for Abaroa and that further testing would have excluded him.
Jury selection is expected to last at least three days to seat 12 jurors and at least two alternates, while the trial itself could take up to three weeks.
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