The questionnaire includes an important qualifier: Whether a potential juror would be willing to hand out the death penalty, a necessity in a capital punishment case.

Members of the jury pool, all from Eastern Massachusetts, were asked to fill out a questionnaire that will help determine whether they can serve on the trial, which could last 10 weeks.

Jury selection in the death-penalty trial of admitted serial killer Gary Lee Sampson officially began Wednesday, with US District Judge Leo T. Sorokin explaining the case to potential jurors.

"The most difficult and serious determination any juror can make is whether to impose a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of release, or the death penalty," Sorokin told the potential jurors in a series of three separate briefings Wednesday. "These are the only two sentences available for Mr. Sampson's crimes."


Once the jurors complete the questionnaires, the lawyers will screen their answers to gauge whether they are suitable to serve on the jury. Those who are not immediately ruled out will be called back for more in-depth questioning — known as voir dire — beginning Wednesday, Sept. 21. The judge will also ask dozens more potential jurors to fill out the questionnaire on Thursday, so that he has a large enough pool of potentially suitable jurors to begin the voir dire process.

Once the voir dire process is complete — and the judge believes he has a final pool of qualified jurors — the lawyers will select the final panel of 12 jurors, with additional alternates. Sorokin said Wednesday that he believes that process will conclude in early October.

This is the second time a jury has been selected to determine Sampson's fate. A federal jury agreed in 2003 to sentence him to death for carjacking and killing two people in Massachusetts and a third in New Hampshire during a violent weeklong spree in 2001. A judge later vacated that sentence, however, after finding one of the jurors lied during the screening process.


On Wednesday, Sorokin did not tell potential jurors the history of the case, and only said: "There have been a number of proceedings in this case, and now we are ready for the sentencing trial."

Sampson, who will be 57 later this month, is a drifter from Abington who was suspected in several bank robberies in North Carolina in 2001 before he returned to New England and began his violent spree. He pleaded guilty to the carjacking and killing Philip McCloskey, 69, and Jonathan Rizzo, 19, in Massachusetts. He also admitted to strangling Robert "Eli" Whitney, 58, in New Hampshire. He pleaded guilty in proceedings in that state, though prosecutors cited the killing in seeking the death penalty here.

Sorokin explained to the potential jurors that Massachusetts does not have the death penalty, but that Sampson is charged with the federal crimes of carjacking in death, which allow for capital punishment.

"The Constitution demands a jury of fair and impartial jurors," the judge said. "The process of selecting a jury begins today."

Milton J. Valencia

can be reached at milton.valencia@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @miltonvalencia.