Jury selection complete in trial of man charged with murder in Lynn

LAWRENCE – Jury selection was completed Tuesday in the trial of a Chelsea man charged with beating a Peabody father of two to death over a parking space outside a Lynn storage facility last fall.Fernando Aristy, 24, of 59 Burma St., Chelsea, is facing a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of Chad R. McDonald, Sr., a 34-year-old Peabody father who was beaten during a confrontation outside a Lynn storage facility where he had been working and sleeping after being reportedly estranged from his wife.A jury panel consisting of 14 persons, seven women and seven men, has been selected to sit on the expected two-week trial. Only 12 of the jurors selected will decide the fate of Aristy after all the evidence is presented by both the commonwealth and defense.Judge Richard E. Welch III is presiding over the jury trial in Lawrence Superior Court.Jurors will travel to Lynn on Thursday morning to view the scene of the crime. The bus has been scheduled to leave Lawrence at 9:15 a.m.In the early morning hours of Oct. 9, McDonald, who had been staying at Jim Appleyard Bonded Storage at 37 Bennett St. in Lynn, went over to a nearby auto body shop where Aristy was playing dominoes and drinking beer with friends, according to prosecutors.McDonald, who was also reportedly carrying a beer and was smoking marijuana, got into an argument with Aristy over parking his Jeep and blocking the front of the driveway to the storage facility. The two men two weeks earlier had argued about the same issue.McDonald reportedly armed himself with a screwdriver and during the struggle Aristy grabbed a piece of wood from a fence and allegedly struck McDonald several times in the head.Witnesses had to pull Aristy off of McDonald, who managed to go back to the warehouse, went to bed and was found about 12 hours later in a pool of blood, still conscious. He was air-lifted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and ended up on life support, which was removed 11 days later and he died.Aristy, who is facing a life sentence if convicted of first-degree murder, has pleaded innocent.He remains held at the Middleton Jail without bail pending the outcome of his trial.