Jury selection begins in murder trial of Emmett Jones and Roderick Bates

photo Emmett "D Baby" Jones and Roderick "Poo Poo" Bates

The murder trial of two Chattanooga men charged in a 2011 shooting death began a day late due to Monday's cold weather.

Emmett "D Baby" Jones and Roderick "Poo Poo" Bates, both 27, face charges of first-degree murder and especially aggravated burglary in the Oct. 7, 2011 shooting death of Reginald Clark, 37.

Witnesses previously testified in a hearing shortly after the incident that Jones and Bates went to Clark's Greenwood Drive home at 3 a.m. and shot him following a fight at the 807 Fire & Ice nightclub on Market Street.

The trial was to begin Tuesday but was delayed when Hamilton County General Sessions and Criminal Court closed for inclement weather Monday.

Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman told attorneys he expects that the trial will last into next week. It is scheduled for full days today and Thursday, a partial day Friday and to begin again Tuesday.

Seventy-two jurors were called for attorneys to select a 12-member jury likely with two alternates.

For more see tomorrow's Times Free Press.

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