For the first time in decades, lawyers were unable to pick 14 impartial people from a jury pool.

AUBURN – The trial for a Navy journalist accused of assaulting his 22-month-old adopted son was supposed to begin Tuesday.

A judge was forced to postpone it until next month after lawyers on both sides could not pick 14 impartial jurors from a pool of about 100 people.

It is the first time in decades that a trial has been delayed in Androscoggin County due to an inability to pick a jury, court clerks said.

Jeremy Allen, a 30-year-old journalist who works in the public affairs office at the Brunswick Naval Air Station, faces a felony assault charge for allegedly hitting his son, Nathaniel, with a wooden spoon.

Police say he used so much force that the spoon left bruises on the boy’s thighs and buttocks.

The assault allegedly occurred two days before the boy died. Allen’s wife, Sarah, has been charged with manslaughter in connection with the boy’s death.

Police say that on Feb. 14, 2003, after Jeremy Allen had left for a business trip in New Hampshire, Sarah Allen shook the boy with so much force that it killed him.

Her trial is still scheduled to begin in Androscoggin County Superior Court on June 1.

Trying again

Defense attorney George Hess and state prosecutor Lisa Marchese were not available Tuesday to explain why they had such a difficult time picking jurors for Jeremy Allen’s trial.

Almost every person in the 97-person jury pool was called into the judge’s chambers where they were asked questions by both lawyers to determine whether they could be impartial when hearing the case.

One by one, the lawyers discarded the potential jurors.

Justice Ellen Gorman called it quits at about 3 p.m. when there weren’t enough people left to fill the slots for 12 jurors and two alternates.

The trial was rescheduled for June 28. On that morning, a new pool of potential jurors will be called in and the lawyers will try again.

Either lawyer could file a motion requesting that the trial be held in another county where people may not be so familiar with the case. But neither Hess nor Marchese has chosen to do so.

Sarah Allen’s lawyer, Verne Paradie, also plans to try his case in Auburn. He believes the nature of the charges – not local media coverage of the case – is what would make it hard to pick a jury.

Still, he isn’t worried.

“I have every bit of confidence that on June 1 we will be able to pick a fair and impartial jury,” he said.

Separate trials

The decision to charge Jeremy Allen was based on information investigators got from the Allens on the morning their son died, according to court documents.

Before the baby was taken off life-support on Feb. 14, the Allens were interviewed separately at the hospital by a detective, a social worker and a child-abuse expert.

Jeremy Allen was asked about bruises found on the boy’s buttocks and upper thighs during the autopsy.

Investigators said Allen told them that he hit his son three times – once with his diaper on and twice without it. They also said Allen told them that he spanked his son with the same spatula on two or three other occasions and always left bruises.

State prosecutors originally planned to try the couple at the same time before the same jury. They believed doing so would give the jury a full picture of what was happening in the Allen home on the days leading up to Nathaniel’s death.

But lawyers for Sarah and Jeremy Allen protested, and Justice Gorman agreed to separate the trials.

Jeremy Allen could face up to five years in prison if he is convicted. His wife faces up to 40 years.

The couple claims that their son, who they adopted from Guatemala, died as a result of a pre-existing medical problem.

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