Published: January 27, 2009 11:09 am      

No jury for suspect in baby sitter's death

NORWICH _ A New Jersey man accused of murdering a 12-year-old baby sitter in South Otselic in 2007 has opted for trial by judge rather than jury.

George Ford Jr., 43, is slated to be tried starting at 8:30 a.m. Monday in Chenango County Court.

He is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Shyanne Somers of South Otselic, who was run over by his pickup truck on July 8, 2007. The crime carries a maximum penalty of 25-years-to-life in prison.

In court last week, Ford, through his attorney, Randel Scharf of Cooperstown, asked to be tried by a judge, said Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride on Monday.

Asked how unusual it is to waive the right to a jury trial, McBride said, ``I don’t want to comment on how unusual it is, but it has been done, and it’s entirely proper.’’

Scharf could not be reached for comment.

McBride said a trial by judge is likely to move along quickly. Jury selection, which can take two or more days, will be eliminated, as will instructions to the jury.

On Monday morning, the prosecution will begin its case, said McBride, who declined to comment on the evidence.

Ford, a contractor from Piscataway, N.J., had a summer home in South Otselic.

According to police, he has maintained that Shyanne’s death was an accident that occurred while he was driving her home after the girl had been at his house to baby-sit. She had wanted to see a Clydesdale horse he owned, Ford has said, and they stopped near a pasture on Will Warner Road at about midnight July 7. She got out of the truck to have a better look at the horse and he struck her with the front of the truck as he turned around, he said.

Only hours later did Ford take the girl’s body to Chenango Memorial Hospital in Norwich.

Several months ago, Chenango County Sheriff Thomas Loughren said Ford’s wife, Cindy Ford, had a global positioning system installed in her husband’s truck because she believed he was having an affair. Ford discovered the GPS on the day he went to the Somers’ house on Route 26 in South Otselic in search of a baby sitter, the sheriff said.

``He knew it was there, but I don’t believe he knew what it is capable of,’’ Loughren said then.

The GPS shows that Ford’s truck was parked near an abandoned house on the night the girl was murdered, the sheriff has said.

Scharf has said the GPS may show where a truck traveled, but it does not indicate what happened while Ford and the girl were together.