Jury selected in Cape teen’s manslaughter trial
Eight people were selected late Wednesday afternoon to sit on the jury of a Cape Coral teen charged in the 2010 shooting death of his girlfriend.
Following two days of jury selection, Lee Circuit Judge John W. Dommerich announced to the courtroom that a jury had been picked in the trial of Dylan Stanley Wisniewski, 19. He faces one count of manslaughter with a firearm.
Wisniewski is charged in the Sept. 3, 2010, death of Ashlee Swazey, 15.
The trial will begin Thursday at 8:30 a.m. with opening statements at the Lee County Justice Center, in downtown Fort Myers, in Courtroom 8A.
Wisniewski faces up to 30 years in prison if he is convicted.
Assistant State Attorney Marie Doerr is prosecuting the case.
Assistant Public Defender Maria Pace is representing Wisniewski.
At about 4:30 p.m. Sept. 3, Cape officers responded to a shooting at 2125 S.E. Sixth Lane. Wisniewski told police that he was “messing with a gun” and that his girlfriend had been hurt, according to a police report. Swazey was found lying on the floor in a bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Later during questioning, Wisniewski told police that he and Swazey were in his bedroom. According to the report, she was walking around the room when he removed a .22-caliber rifle from a gun rack above his closet. He pointed the gun in her direction, first at her feet and then at her shoulder area.
Swazey reportedly walked up to the end of the gun and put her mouth close to the barrel, the report states. Wisniewski stated that he pulled the trigger, not realizing the gun was loaded. Swazey fell to the floor and he called 911.
Others inside the home at the time of the shooting were also questioned by Cape police. They confirmed that Wisniewski and Swazey were the only ones in Wisniewski’s room when they heard the “bang,” according to the report.
Wisniewski was taken into custody and later charged by the state.