Trial opening statements expected Mon.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - A New York man's statements to police can be used by prosecutors trying him on charges of fatally beating his 10-year-old stepson with a rolling pin, a judge ruled as lawyers prepared for the start of his second-degree murder trial next week.

Attorneys spent a second day Friday interviewing prospective jurors. Nine jurors were seated Thursday following Supreme Court Justice Christopher Burns' ruling denying a defense request to suppress what Ali-Mohamed Mohamud told police after his stepson's body was found in the family's Buffalo home last April.

The statements have not been read aloud in court, but a prosecutor said during a previous hearing that Mohamud admitted beating Abdifatah Mohamud to death.

A police officer responding to a missing child report by the boy's mother found Abdifatah in the blood-spattered basement of the family's home, his hands and mouth duct-taped.

Defense attorney Kevin Spitler asked prospective jurors if they would have the courage to render an unpopular not guilty verdict in the emotional case, reminding them of the public backlash that followed a jury's acquittal of a Buffalo-area doctor in a fatal hit and run earlier this year.

"That's the kind of courage I'm going to ask you to demonstrate," Spitler told the jurors.

Prosecutor Thomas Finnerty said Abdifatah was struck about 70 times with a wooden rolling pin.

Mohamud was arrested a short time later at The Buffalo News, where he worked as a security guard.

The judge also said he would allow evidence collected from the home and Mohamud's workplace to be admitted at his trial, ruling police had not used force or deception to obtain it.

Opening statements are expected Monday.