Jury selected; second trial of suspect in Chambers slaying begins Tuesday
There were 300 jury summons sent in Oktibbeha County in the trial of Quinton Tellis, charged with capital murder in the December 2014 death of Courtland teen Jessica Chambers.
A jury of eight women and seven men — nine black and six white — will now decide Tellis’ fate in his second trial. His first trial last October resulted in a hung jury.
In Starkville on Monday, jury selection began at 9 a.m. with a few more than 160 potential jurors who showed up. The small courtroom was packed to standing room only, so only potential jurors were allowed in.
One by one, around 100 potential jurors came out smiling, headed back to work or home, excused from their civic duty for various reasons. After the first hour or so, the pool was down to 62.
The first few questions may affect the jury selection for both the prosecution and defense. The potential jurors were asked if they were or were related to law enforcement, which garnered Effort to nix statues honoring rebel figures hasn’t affected US Capitol. quite a few responses, but more than that were the answers to the question, “Do you have any knowledge of this case?”
Many potential jurors have seen the extensive media coverage from newspapers, television, radio and cable documentaries, they said. All of them still said despite what they’d seen or read, they believed they could be fair and impartial in deliberations.
District Attorney John Champion asked that the jury simply use common sense when weighing the evidence, in order not only to give Tellis a fair trial, but also to be fair to Chambers and her family.
Defense Attorney Darla Palmer
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Heavy downpours predicted for the week ahead. asked potential jurors, often for the second time, if they could put aside previous exposure to reported details of the case, their personal relationships to law enforcement, and their experiences with violent crime aside and provide a fair and impartial verdict.
Most of them said they could. Two potential jurors who had family members who were murdered said they weren’t quite sure how it would affect their ability to be impartial. One man said he wasn’t sure he could stomach the pictures.
But when the final names and juror numbers were called out, some were to be expected after the questioning, and some were surprises.
The jurors were given an hour and a half to go home and pack, and were told to meet back at the courthouse at the end of that time. They will be put on a bus and sent to Panola County where they’ll be sequestered until the end of the trial.
The trial begins with opening statements at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the Panola County Courthouse in Batesville. A po-
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tential witness list of 45 was read aloud by Palmer, and some of those listed testified in the 2017 trial, while others didn’t.
A new witness will tell the court that she picked Tellis up near where Chambers’ keys were found, and that she dropped him off at his sister’s house, Champion said. First responders will testify to what they saw at the scene of Chambers’ death, while some will testify to the medical aspects of the case.
A speech pathologist is expected to speak about the likelihood of Chambers being able to be understood with extensive mouth and airway burns.
Before Palmer objected, Champion also touched on a field trip in which jurors will see a recreation of the scene on Herron Road, complete with the fire trucks and other vehicles that were there.
Judge Gerald Chatham told the jurors that the trial could last five to seven days.