MINOT - A 14-person jury was chosen Tuesday in the trial of a former Barnes County jailer accused of killing Valley City State student Mindy Morgenstern, and the judge rejected a motion to sequester the jurors.

"I'm extremely impressed with the quality of people we have," Judge John Paulson said after the jury panel of nine women and five men was pared from a group of 36 to decide the fate of Moe Gibbs. Two of the 14 jurors will serve as alternates.

Gibbs, 34, is charged with murder in the September 2006 death of Morgenstern, 22, of New Salem. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. The trial was moved from Valley City to Minot because of pretrial news coverage.

Gibbs smiled and nodded at potential jurors, and read through the jury instructions during Tuesday's hearing. His right arm is in a sling after he slipped and fell earlier, court documents say.

Morgenstern's friends and relatives also were in the Minot courtroom, wearing buttons with her picture.

Paulson had closed the preliminary stages of jury selection but reopened the courtroom for the final round Tuesday. The original list of potential jurors had 51 names. The 14 chosen for the panel are white and most appear middle-age. Gibbs is black.

Paulson read instructions to the jurors telling them to avoid the media, the Internet, and to avoid talking about the case.

"Their view is not necessarily the same as yours," the judge told jurors, referring to the media. "You have the ultimate responsibility to decide this case - they do not."

Paulson also told jurors he wanted to try "not to disrupt your lives, as much as possible."

One of Gibbs' lawyers, Dennis Fisher, had asked the judge to sequester jurors, meaning they would have to stay in a hotel during all or part of the trial.

Paulson rejected that, but left open the possibility of sequestering the jury during their deliberations or if "I feel the publicity is undue."

Morgenstern was found strangled, with a cut on her neck, in her Valley City apartment on Sept. 13. Gibbs, who worked as a Barnes County jailer at the time, lived in the same apartment building. Prosecutors say Morgenstern was killed after she rebuffed his sexual advances. Defense attorneys dispute that.

Opening arguments in the case were scheduled for 8:30 a.m. today.