Jury selection has begun for the United States trial of an Auckland University graduate accused of murdering his wife in New York last year.
Blazej Kot, 25, is accused of stabbing his wife, Caroline Coffey, 28, to death last June and setting fire to their home.
Kot graduated from Auckland in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in physics and computer science. He was attending Cornell University in New York State when he killed his British-born American wife.
His trial in Tompkins County, New York State, could last up to three weeks and his appointed lawyer, Joseph Joch, is expected to try to prove "extreme emotional disturbance".
"We don't contest our client's guilt," he said.
Judge John Rowley ordered Kot to undergo a psychiatric examination.
Kiwi's murder case in court
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