CINCINNATI -- Jury selection for the trial of Ray Tensing officially began and ended Monday.
The pool of 195 potential jurors came to the hearing to field questions from both sides of the courtroom to vet bias. By 4 p.m., 12 jurors and alternates were selected.
Here is a quick recap of the major points of Monday's jury selection:
- Despite predictions of a long, drawn-out process, it took only one day for a jury to be seated in Ray Tensing's murder trial. Opening statements will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday - almost a week sooner than expected. The jury is comprised of two black women, four white women and six white men. All alternates are white.
- While talking to the first group of potential jurors, Assistant Prosecutor Rick Gibson said Tensing admitted that he "purposely caused the death" of Sam DuBose during an interview with Cincinnati Police homicide investigators.Tensing's defense attorney, Stew Mathews, immediately objected and Judge Megan Shanahan directed Gibson to "stay away from evidence."
- Mathews said the jury will see the Mount Auburn crime scene.
- Only two jurors out of more than 230 potential jurors who completed questionnaires said they knew nothing about the Tensing/DuBose case, Mathews said. During jury selection, more potential jurors said they knew essentially nothing of the case. Still, the vast majority of potential jurors said they knew some information about the shooting, the video and/or DuBose's death.
- At the same time, some jurors said they have already made up their minds regarding Tensing's guilt. They were dismissed.
- Mathews called one potential juror out for a Facebook post made last week while potential jurors completed questionnaires; the post said "Help, get me out of here," Mathews said.
- Mathews emphasized that jurors could not consider race when deliberating. "This is not about the color of a man's skin," he said. "It's about the facts."
- Mathews also dropped a hint regarding his client's defense, and said DuBose wasn't stopped for a missing front license plate. "It was something more serious than that," Mathews said.
- Protestors gathered in front of the courthouse Monday morning before jury selection began. No protestors, T-shirts or signs were allowed on the fifth floor of the courthouse.
For a more in-depth recap, click here.
For more of WCPO's coverage on this trial, bookmark wcpo.com/tensingtrial.
Web Editor Greg Noble contributed to this report.
