The jury for the Raymond Stacey murder trial will be bigger than usual

When the jury was selected for the Raymond Stacey murder trialin Supreme Court in St. John's Wednesday, the judge kept going and going.

Instead of picking the usual 12 jurors and two alternates, 14 jurors and two alternates were selected.

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Stacey's lawyer, Bob Buckingham, says the change was made at the request of the judge who will hear the trial, Justice GarrettHandrigan.

"The criminal code provides for there being additional jurors picked in certain circumstances, and in this particular case, given that there is a gap between the selection of the jury and the start ofthe trial, and also the time of the year, it was thought prudent by the presiding judge that it could be better to have a jury of 14 picked," he said.

Buckingham says the time of year has to do with people's plans, especially if the trial goes longer than expected.

"Vacations, Christmas, people planning things," said Buckingham. "This trial is set for Nov. 14 to Dec. 16. It's hoped it will be finished by Dec. 16, but there may be plans people have around that time of the year."

Stacey, 25, is accused of stabbing to death co-worker Clifford Comerford, 41, in a van in Mount Pearl. It was taking them to workat the Country Ribbon chicken facility near Paddy's Pond in January 2015.

Buckingham says that even though 14 people will be on the jury, not all of them will decideif Stacey is guilty or not guilty.

"At the end of the trial, there will be 12 jurors selected to decide the verdict," said Buckingham.

Two of the 14 jurors will be eliminated by drawing numbers.

As it stands now, there are 10 women and 4 men on Stacey's jury. The two alternates are both men.