On Feb. 9, after numerous legal setbacks, jury selection will begin in the Shannon Schieber wrongful death lawsuit. Schieber, a 23-year-old Wharton doctoral student, was raped and murdered in May 1998 at her Fitler Square apartment. Her assailant, "Center City Rapist" Troy Graves, was eventually captured in Colorado in April 2002 after raping four other women in Philadelphia and six in Colorado. He pleaded guilty that May, and is currently serving life in prison in Colorado.

In October 1998, the Schieber family -- parents Sylvester and Vicki and brother Sean -- filed suit in federal court against the city of Philadelphia and two police officers, Steven Woods and Raymond Scherff.

The case will finally be heard by M. Faith Angell, federal judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in courtroom 10-A of the federal courthouse at Sixth and Market. The lawsuit alleges that Graves was still in Schieber's apartment -- and that she was still alive -- when the two officers were in her apartment building. Further, had they forced entry into her apartment, she could have been saved.

On Feb. 20, 2003, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit granted a defense motion to dismiss Scherff and Woods as defendants, saying that their actions may have been negligent, but did not rise to the standard applied in such cases.

The Schieber family has since changed tactics, and will focus on the allegedly routine Philadelphia Police Department practice of downgrading rape complaints, saying that it violated Schieber's constitutional rights and may have prevented Scherff and Woods from knowing about the presence of a serial rapist in the Center City area.

But, the Third Circuit decision further weakened the Schieber's case by preventing them from collecting punitive damages, which can only be sought against individuals in this type of case. So, the Schiebers are seeking both compensatory damages for expenses incurred by the loss of their daughter, and changes in police training programs.

"Our contention," says Penn Law professor and Schieber attorney David Rudovsky, "is that she was alive when the police came, and they should have entered. The point now is we're saying if they had known about a serial rapist that would have been another factor they would have considered."

The Schiebers declined to comment, and Jeffrey M. Scott, the deputy city solicitor representing Philadelphia, did not return calls seeking comment.

When reached last week in Miami, where he's the current police chief, John Timoney -- Philadelphia's police commissioner at the time of Schieber's death -- said he's prohibited by the judge from speaking about the case.—Alex Koppelman

Ready for April?

"Is there a Kucinich blackout?" asks Stephen, in a posting at www.selectsmart.com. He’s frustrated because he knows ardent supporters of Howard Dean, Wesley Clark and John Kerry who took the site’s Presidential Candidate Test were told that Dennis Kucinich’s platform best reflects their political views.

"Either these poll questions are skewed," Stephen writes, "or people just don't get a proper view of [Kucinich's] agenda."

Though the race could be all but decided before the primary train rolls into Pennsylvania on April 27, the SelectSmart test may help undecideds decide who's the candidate for them. Seventeen questions long, it covers abortion, taxes, health care and gun control, though gay marriage is conspicuously absent. (The site, one of several being passed around the Internet quicker than a Paris Hilton video, can also help you decide which pet's best for you.)

Stephen's friends are not alone in finding themselves matched with Kucinich. As of last week, the Ohio Democrat led all candidates with 22 percent, followed by Howard Dean (17 percent) and President Bush (14 percent). So why is a candidate at the bottom of most polls leading this popular Web survey? Curt Anderson, the Oregon-based SelectSmart administrator, thinks there's "a tendency for more left-leaning people to come to SelectSmart," because Republicans don't have to choose between a slate of candidates.

Among those left-leaners, he says, "Kucinich has staked out a lot of popular views," but is trailing in the polls because of issues such as seriousness and perceived electability. Anderson doesn't believe questions are skewed toward Kucinich. A close look at the original survey suggested design may have had something to do with Kucinich's success. Most questions had just two choices: one for the right, the other the left. This meant that the several Democratic candidates who have articulated centrist views didn't see their positions portrayed.

"It's tough to phrase a centrist view in one line," admits Anderson, who this week updated the questionairre to address that concern.

That's why Kerry and Edwards initially got fewer matches than the anonymous "Libertarian candidate" and "Socialist candidate." Say what you want about those guys, but at least they stand for something, as does Kucinich, who regularly polled behind "undecided" in Iowa and New Hampshire.—Doron Taussig