Jurors have been selected in Cortez Sims case

Cortez Sims, the 17-year-old suspect in a 2015 deadly apartment shooting at College Hill Courts, appears before Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Robert D. Philyaw for a detention hearing on Jan. 12, 2015.
Cortez Sims, the 17-year-old suspect in a 2015 deadly apartment shooting at College Hill Courts, appears before Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Robert D. Philyaw for a detention hearing on Jan. 12, 2015.

UPDATE: The jury selection is complete in the Cortez Sims case.

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Jury selection begins today in the case of a 19-year-old man who allegedly opened fire inside of a College Hill Courts apartment because of a year-long feud between two street gangs.

Attorneys are reviewing a list of questions to gauge how much prospective jurors know about Cortez Sims, who police say killed one, injured two, and paralyzed a toddler when he sprayed an apartment with bullets on Jan. 7, 2015.

After they agree upon an established list of questions, they will start picking a jury in Hamilton County Criminal Court.

Bianca Horton, who survived the 2015 shooting, is expected to be a main topic since prosecutors say she was murdered in May 2016 and dropped in the 2100 block of Elder Street with multiple gunshot wounds.

Horton, 26, had previously testified for the state during a hearing in Juvenile Court that ensured Sims, then 17, would be prosecuted as an adult.

No one has been arrested in her slaying, but authorities have speculated Horton was killed for speaking out against Sims.

Sims' defense attorneys have argued no evidence connects their client to her slaying and objected to the state's request to refer to her as "deceased" during the trial.

Judge Barry Steelman said prosecutors can use that term as long as they don't delve into the murder itself after a recent evidentiary hearing.

He also ruled prosecutors may use an 11-minute video that a responding Chattanooga officer shot on his body camera.

According to prosecutors, that footage shows Marcel Christopher nursing a gunshot wound to the chest when he tells the officer Sims was responsible for the shooting.

Authorities tracked Sims down a few days later in Knoxville.

Sims, an alleged member of the Athens Park Bloods, was a hitman during the yearlong feud between his gang and the Bounty Hunters, prosecutors say. Christopher is an alleged member of the Bounty Hunters.

Six days before the Jan. 7, 2015, shooting, Athens Park member Deoaunte Dean was killed because of the feud, police say.

Marcel Christopher's name came up during that investigation, Chattanooga officer Jeremy Winbush said last week on the stand. But no arrests have been made in his case either.

Sims' defense attorneys say gang affiliation is based on hearsay validation forms and several unsolved cases and shouldn't go before jurors.

They also say out-of-town jurors need to hear this case, but Judge Barry Steelman said he will only entertain that possibility if attorneys can't pick a fair and impartial jury today in Hamilton County.

The jurors will be sequestered, meaning they cannot go home after each day and will likely stay in an area hotel without full access to news about the case.

Sims faces three counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, and one count of first-degree murder.

This is a developing story. Please check back later for updates.

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