Illegal immigrant's murder trial starts

ALBION, N.Y. (AP) - Jury selection is set to begin for the murder trial of an illegal immigrant accused of raping and strangling his 15-year-old sister-in-law and burying her body in an upstate New York apple orchard.

Authorities say 22-year-old Carlos Cardenas, a Mexican citizen, confessed to the January 2011 killing of Katherine Sanchez a month after the girl disappeared. In his 11-page statement, Cardenas said he and the high school freshman had consensual sex and that he strangled her after she threatened to tell her older sister, his wife.

Earlier this year, Cardenas' lawyer unsuccessfully sought to keep the confession out of his second-degree murder trial. Jury selection begins Wednesday in Orleans County Court.

Cardenas faces 25 years to life if convicted.

The trial is expected to last about two weeks.