Jury selection to begin Monday against man accused of killing Tara Grinstead

IRWIN COUNTY, Ga. — Jury selection is set to begin Monday in the murder of a south Georgia teacher and beauty queen over 17 years ago.

Three Atlanta defense attorneys are representing Ryan Duke, who is accused of killing Tara Grinstead in 2005 and burning her body in the woods.

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Channel 2′s Tony Thomas said important rulings were made Thursday. The defense attorneys reportedly didn’t want jurors in the case to know about Grinstead’s past. They felt the details, good or bad, should not play a role in the jury’s decision.

“Any references to her being a beauty queen, being involved in pageantry. Any of her personal life,” said defense attorney John Merchant.

That’s one of the requests lawyers made of the judge in Ryan Duke’s upcoming murder trial. Duke’s attorneys say too much information about the well-liked Grinstead would influence the jury.

“It’s only appropriate in limited versions during sentencing, during the guilt-innocence phase none of that is allowed to come in,” Merchant said.

But in a Zoom meeting on Thursday, prosecutors told the judge that Grinstead’s life will play a key role and those facts will come out.

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“The fact that a lot of the witnesses knew she was a teacher. The first thing they did when they realized she was missing was call the school to see if she was there,” said prosecutor JD Hart.

The judge agreed that witnesses can mention those facts in passing, but not dwell on them.

The Grinstead case was unsolved until the GBI arrested Bo Dukes and Ryan Duke in 2017. Both men confessed, but now Duke says his confession was a lie.

Bo Dukes told several people different versions of his story and he will be called to testify at trial but is expected to take the Fifth.

“Bo Dukes is going to be a star witness in this trial one way or the other,” Merchant said.

The judge ruled Thursday that any statements Dukes made prior to talking with the GBI can be used and anything he told police can’t be used in this trial.

Starting Monday, 800 Irwin county residents will be called for jury duty.

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