KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Opening statements are scheduled to take place Tuesday morning in the trial for three men facing first-degree murder charges in the shooting death of a Knoxville high school student who died shielding girls from gunfire.
Christopher Drone Bassett, Kipling Deshawn Colbert and Richard Gregory Williams III are facing trial in connection with the death of Zaevion Dobson. A jury was selected Monday.
Dobson was shot in December 2015 while protecting two friends in his Knoxville neighborhood. Dobson was praised by then-President Barack Obama as a hero shortly after the 15-year-old's death.
Dobson, who had been a promising football player at Fulton High School, received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2016 ESPYs. The award recognizes individuals embodying the spirt of Ashe, who dedicated his life to human rights advocacy.