The process of finding nine more jurors and two alternates is scheduled to continue this morning, when 100 more potential jurors will be brought to court and questioned.

Lewis, 23, is charged with fatally shooting Philadelphia Police Officer Chuck Cassidy during a holdup of a West Oak Lane Dunkin' Donuts on Oct. 31, 2007. He died the next day.

Lewis, who sat quietly between his two defense attorneys during yesterday's questioning, is also charged with committing six armed robberies - the final one resulting in his firing a bullet into the 25-year police veteran's brain, police said.

The District Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty for Lewis, a fact that did not sit well with many of the first-round potential jurors.

When Judge Jeffrey Minehart asked if they had "moral, religious or conscientious scruples" about voting to give the death penalty to a person convicted of first-degree murder, nearly half raised their hands.

Conversely, not one hand went up when he asked if anyone would object to sentencing that person to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

More than 30 hands went up when the judge asked if it would be a hardship to serve on a trial that could last up to three weeks.

Those with hardship concerns were released, while those opposed to the death penalty were questioned individually by the judge and the teams of two defense attorneys and two assistant district attorneys, who represent the commonwealth.

The judge has placed a gag order on the lawyers, which prevents them from talking with reporters.

Even if Lewis is convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, his execution would be far from assured.

Although 221 people are on Pennsylvania's death row, the last execution was on July 6, 1999, when Gary Heidnik died by injection, according to the state Department of Corrections.

Just three people have been executed since the 1978 enactment of the state's capital-punishment statute. The two other executions took place in 1995.

The judge told the group of potential jurors that those selected to serve would be allowed to go home each night, would not have to work on the case during weekends and, if the case runs into Thanksgiving week, would not have to be in court on that Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.

The first juror selected, a Poconos native, lives in South Philadelphia and worked briefly as a college police officer. She now works for a company that relocates employees of companies after natural disasters.

Another juror is a graduate of Nazareth Academy High School and La Salle University. Once victimized by a home invasion, the woman's father retired as a Philadelphia police lieutenant, she said.

The Daily News was unable to get information on the third juror.