SOUTHAVEN, Miss. — Jury selection began Monday for the trial of the man accused of killing two coworkers at the Southaven Walmart.
Martez Abram is charged with two counts of murder for the July 2019 shooting. FOX13 was the only TV station in the Mississippi courtroom as the jury selection began.
Potential jurors received tough scrutiny as the judge, the defense and the prosecution went through the long process of seating the potential jurors.
Cameras were not allowed in the courtroom for jury selection, but among the screening questions Judge Celeste Wilson asked were if potential jurors knew family members of Abram. One potential juror had been at Walmart the day of the shooting.
Another said he had a law enforcement background and could not be fair and impartial.
One woman said that she couldn’t be fair because she had a family friend who was shot and injured in the Kroger shooting in Collierville last year.
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Eight potential jurors said they oppose the death penalty.
One man said that he felt he could not be fair and impartial because his daughter had been at two active shooter scenes, and it angered him.
FOX13 found out there was security camera footage of the two killings inside the store, and that it will be shown at the trial.
Jurors were asked if they would be able to watch it. Eight of them said they would not be able to stomach it.
Eighteen witnesses, including Walmart employees and a Southaven Police officer who was shot and survived that day, will testify along with MBI and ATF agents. The medical examiner will also testify.
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Jurors were also questioned about whether they were exposed to coverage of the recent Walmart shooting in Virginia, in which six people were shot and killed, and how that would affect their ability to serve as a juror.
Jurors are being sequestered for the trial which the judge expects to last for a week.
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