Claremore Trial Expected To Begin After 3 Delays

Sunday, May 14th 2006, 4:45 pm

By: News On 6

CLAREMORE, Okla. (AP) -- Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the trial of two Tulsa men charged with first-degree murder trial in the beating death of a man at a Catoosa motel.

The trial for 39-year-old Derek Glenn Arnold and 30-year-old and Eric Hamilton has already been delayed three times to allow time for DNA testing to be completed. Results from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation crime lab are expected in time for the trial to begin.

Arnold and Hamilton were arrested following the discovery of Nolen Michael Yarbrough's body inside a motel room on August first, 2002. Yarbrough had suffered blunt trauma to the head and face and a major fracture to his back, authorities said.

Last week, Judge Dynda Post denied defense motions asking that the death penalty be declared unconstitutional and asking the court to "prohibit the prosecution from excluding potential jurors who express reservation regarding the death penalty."