Jury selection enters day 3 in the capital murder trial of Ibraheem Yazeed
Jury selection has entered a third day in the capital murder trial of the man accused of killing 19-year-old Aniah Blanchard in 2019.
Court officials say there were nearly 450 jury summons sent out in this case, but Tuesday, there were a little over a 100 potential jurors that showed up.
Action 8 News has learned that as of right now, 25 potential jurors have been dismissed.
For the first time, attorneys for both the defense and prosecution had the chance to ask the remaining jurors questions.
Prosecutors with the Attorney General’s office asked about 60 questions, including if jurors ever had a friend convicted of a crime, or if they knew where the Chevron gas station was where Blanchard was last seen alive in October 2019. Blanchard’s body was found a month later in a wooded area of Macon County.
Defense attorneys also asked the potential jurors if they knew what Aniah’s Law was and whether they thought the suspect was guilty because he has been indicted in the case.
34-year-old Ibraheem Yazeed was escorted back into the Tuskegee Municipal Complex Tuesday morning.
Since jury selection began, several of you have asked why Yazeed was not escorted into into the complex while wearing handcuffs.
Macon County Sheriff Andre’ Brunson says while he’s not wearing handcuffs, he is restrained.
“He’s not guilty until the court say he’s guilty,” said Sheriff Brunson. “He does have leg restraints on and these leg restraints go from his hips all the way down to his ankles and if you can see him walk in, you will know he has those leg restraints on, but what you don’t see is all the other deputies standing around make sure he doesn’t go anywhere. Along with myself, he wouldn’t get away from me, but we have a lot of security around here and we definitely wouldn’t play with the security of the people here in Macon County.”
Yazeed has pleaded not guilty to three counts of capital murder. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
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