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Trial Begins For Man Accused Of Murdering His Two Neighbors

POSTED: 12:20 pm EST February 20, 2006

SANFORD, Fla. -- The trial started Monday morning for an Altamonte Springs man charged with murdering his neighbors almost two years ago. Prosecutors said Clemente Aguirre stabbed a 68-year-old mother and her daughter to death inside their home.

The courtroom is going through the painstaking process of selecting the jury, a process that's expected to last through the end of the day Tuesday.

Aguirre, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, listened to a translation of the proceedings as the judge began the voir dire component of jury selection. By early Monday afternoon, a number of jurors were excused for personal reasons in a trial that's supposed to last about two weeks.

Aguirre is accused in the stabbing deaths of his neighbors, 68-year-old Carol Bares and her daughter, 47-year-old Cheryl Williams, who lived together at a house on Vagabond Way in Altamonte Springs.

At first, detectives said Aguirre, then 24, admitted to evidence tampering, but they eventually charged the man with two counts of first-degree murder and one of burglary.

Investigators said bloody shoe prints at the murder scene matched his shoes and found blood-stained clothes and a knife inside his home next door.

Opening arguments are set for Wednesday.