Jury selection starts in toddler death case

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Jury selection begin Monday in the trial of a man charged with fatally beating a 3-year-old toddler to death because he was angry the child made a mess.

Gilbert Delestre will stand trial in Providence Superior Court on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

He was charged with his girlfriend, Katherine Bunnell, of fatally beating Thomas “T.J.“ Wright, Bunnell’s nephew, after the couple returned home and found a mess in their Woonsocket apartment.

Wright and his siblings were living with the couple because their mother was in prison.

Bunnell was convicted of second-degree murder in May and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Superior Court Judge Netti Vogel said jury selection would continue into Tuesday. Opening statements could begin later that day.