Jury selection is scheduled to begin today at Peabody District Court in the re-trial of a Beverly Police officer who is charged with motor vehicle homicide for striking and killing 61-year-old Bonney Burns in a 2007 collision.

STUART MERRY, 42, is facing a single charge of motor vehicle homicide for the second time after the Supreme Judicial Court in April refused to dismiss the case at the request of the defense team. The defense had argued that there was insufficient evidence to convict Merry, a contention the state’s highest court rejected.

A second trial was deemed necessary after the discovery of potentially exculpatory evidence that became known to prosecutors after the conclusion of the first trial. Prosecutors turned over that information and assented to a second trial, but objected to defense efforts to dismiss the case outright. With regard to the evidence, both the trial court and the Supreme Judicial Court found no wrong-doing on behalf of prosecutors.

Prosecutors allege that Merry was operating negligently when he crashed his department cruiser into Burns’ parked car. Though Burns was killed in Essex County, Suffolk prosecutors are handling the case against Merry to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, as he is a member of the local law enforcement community.

Merry’s first trial ended in a conviction on March 20, 2008, after three days of testimony and about five hours of deliberation.

Merry, who received probation and a fine following his conviction, has been at liberty throughout the post-trial developments. He is represented by attorney Neil Rossman.