Opening Statements Scheduled In Dismembered Stripper’s Death

GRETNA, La. (AP) — A man accused of killing and dismembering a French Quarter stripper will make opening statements for himself, then cross-examine prosecution witnesses as testimony begins in his trial in a New Orleans suburb.

Terry Speaks questioned and helped choose potential jurors Monday after Jefferson Parish Judge Stephen Grefer agreed that he could act as his own attorney.

Speaks is charged with second-degree murder of 22-year-old Jaren Lockhart; with obstructing justice by cutting up her body and dumping it into the Gulf of Mexico; and with conspiring to do so with former girlfriend Margaret Sanchez.

Both Speaks and Sanchez have pleaded not guilty. Sanchez's trial hasn't been scheduled.

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