Superior Court Judge J.C. Cole of Perquimans County told the Halifax County jurors the trial of William Meinsen is expected to last two to three days.
Motions are expected to be heard at 9:30 a.m. and opening statements by Assistant District Attorney Keith Werner and defense attorney Geoffrey Davis are expected to begin at 10 a.m.
Jury selection this afternoon was completed just shy of three hours.
Several potential jurors had family ties to past sex offense cases and one said, “I just don’t believe in capital punishment,” although the case isn’t a death penalty case.
According to the arrest warrant for Meinsen, Lieutenant Joseph Sealey of the Halifax County Sheriff's Office found probable cause that the minister of New Life Church of Christ in Roanoke Rapids “unlawfully, willfully and feloniously did take and attempt to take immoral, improper and indecent liberties” with the victim in the case — a girl who was under the age of 16.
The arrest warrant continues that Meinsen, at the time 47, of Roanoke Rapids, allegedly did so “for the purpose of arousing and gratifying sexual desire. All the time the defendant was over 16 years of age and at least five years older” than the child.
The alleged offense took place in January of 2014.
