NASHVILLE – For the first time since his arrest, Jesse Mathews appeared in court today in civilian clothes and without shackles.
Mathews appeared in the Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County Courthouse
wearing a long-sleeve forest-green shirt, tan slacks and a patterned necktie.
Beginning at 9:10 a.m. CST, 68 jurors met in the first floor of the courthouse. Jurors for Mathews’ trial will be selected from Davidson County at the request of his attorneys, who hope to avoid tainting jurors’ opinions of the case, which has received a high level of media coverage in Chattanooga.
Mathews, 27, faces the death penalty for the April 2, 2011 shooting death of Chattanooga police Sgt. Tim Chapin. He is scheduled to go on trial in January.