The Latest: 6 picked for officer's trial in boy's killing
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Latest on the murder trial of an officer charged in a 6-year-old boy's shooting death (all times local):
5:10 p.m.
Six people tentatively selected to serve as jurors for the murder trial of a law enforcement officer in the shooting a 6-year-old boy.
Eight others were dismissed from the jury pool Monday after several hours of questioning by the judge and attorneys in Derrick Stafford's trial.
Jury selection will resume Tuesday morning.
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1:10 p.m.
A state prosecutor is asking prospective jurors if they can set aside any potential biases if picked for the murder trial of a deputy in the fatal shooting of a 6 year-old boy.
One of the questions Assistant Attorney General John Sinquefield has asked potential jurors is whether or not race could influence their decisions. The accused deputy, Derrick Stafford, is black, while the boy and his father are white.
Lawyers for Stafford and another black law enforcement officer awaiting a separate trial in the shootings have accused prosecutors of a rush to judgment. Jonathan Goins, Stafford's attorney, said he thinks that would not have happened if the officers had been white.
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11:30 a.m.
Jury selection has begun in Louisiana for a law enforcement officer charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a 6-year-old boy.
Three hundred potential jurors have been called to court today, and another 300 summoned for Tuesday. The high numbers appear to anticipate the possible difficulty of finding an impartial jury in Marksville, the central Louisiana town where Derrick Stafford and another deputy city marshal fired at a car during a traffic stop in November 2015.
About half of the first 14 potential jurors questioned told lawyers they've already seen a police body-camera video of the shooting, and two of them they know Derrick Stafford personally.
The other deputy, Norris Greenhouse Jr., awaits a separate trial later this year.
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2:25 a.m.
A law enforcement officer charged with murder in a 6-year-old boy's fatal shooting is heading to trial.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday for Derrick Stafford's trial in Marksville, the central Louisiana town where he and another deputy city marshal fired at a car during a November 2015 traffic stop.
The shooting killed first-grader Jeremy Mardis and critically wounded his father, Christopher Few. Video from a police officer's body camera showed Few had his hands raised inside his car while the deputies fired.
Prosecutors say Few didn't pose a threat to the officers, but defense attorneys argue that the deputies acted in self-defense.
Stafford is charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder.
The other deputy, Norris Greenhouse Jr., awaits a separate trial later this year.
