Underwear bomb case down to jury pool of 47

[October 06, 2011]  DETROIT (AP) -- Potential jurors will return to a Detroit courtroom for final jury selection in the trial of a Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a plane with a bomb in his underwear.

Thirty-two women and 15 men make up the final pool of prospective jurors. Trial is set to begin next week for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (OO'-mahr fah-ROOK' ahb-DOOL'-moo-TAH'-lahb). Prosecutors say he tried to bring down an Amsterdam-to-Detroit plane on Christmas Day 2009.

Abdulmutallab is acting as his own lawyer, with assistance from a court-appointed standby attorney.

The attorney asked in a court filing late Wednesday that the defense be granted more than its 10 allotted challenges when jury selection resumes Thursday. The challenges allow the removal of a prospective juror without any publicly stated reason.