A Chattanooga jury was empaneled Tuesday to hear a 2015 homicide case that involves a slain witness, a paralyzed toddler, and a yearlong feud between two street gangs.
Attorneys spent the afternoon and morning questioning 84 people about Cortez Sims, who is accused of killing one person, injuring two and paralyzing a 16-month-old after he opened fire inside a College Hill Courts apartment on Jan. 7, 2015.
They settled on a jury at 6:21 p.m. after long conversations with prospective panelists about guns, gangs and the laws that make it possible to introduce testimony from a witness who's no longer available.
Sims, who is charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, and one count of first-degree murder, faces life in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors are not seeking capital punishment against the now-19-year-old, whom they have described as a "hitman" for criminal gangs.
Potential jurors began their Tuesday filling out a questionnaire that gauged how much they knew about the case, which has received much attention in local and national media and prompted Sims' attorneys to request a change of venue in 2016.
As a result, jurors will be sequestered from their families and phones and stay at a hotel for the duration of a trial that's expected to end Saturday or Monday.
"There are reasons why the court has decided to do [this]," Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman said. "With all of the media and information we have, it is very difficult to insulate a jury from the outside world."
Defense attorneys and prosecutors delved into theoretical situations Tuesday related to the case, but never the facts themselves.
"All right," Executive Assistant District Attorney Lance Pope asked. "What about gangs? Does anybody have any experience with criminal street gangs?"
Prosecutors believe video evidence and witness testimony will prove Sims was motivated by a 2014 feud between his gang, the Athens Park Bloods, and the rival Bounty Hunter Bloods.
One of the people inside the apartment, Marcel Christopher, was an alleged Bounty Hunter member whose name came up during an Athens Park homicide six days earlier, police said.
Christopher, then 18, told a responding officer - and was recorded by his body camera - that Sims was responsible for the shooting, thinking he would die from the gunshot wound to his chest.
Bianca Horton, another survivor that evening, was killed in May 2016, found in the 2100 block of Elder Street with multiple gunshot wounds, prosecutors say. No arrest has been made in her case.
Horton, 26, testified during a Juvenile Court hearing that ensured Sims, then 17, would be tried as an adult after he was arrested in Knoxville.
Her testimony can be admitted under a Tennessee law and as a result of a pretrial ruling Steelman made. Without naming her, Pope asked jurors what happens to a witness's testimony once they're unavailable.
"What happens if they're deceased? Would you still want to know their account of what happened?" Pope asked. "You would, wouldn't you?"
Defense attorney Lee Ortwein focused on a point the prosecution made about parents having to glean the truth from children, saying children sometimes lie to escape the consequences of truth.
"Adults do that, too," he said of the state's witnesses.
Ortwein said jurors would need to use common sense to assess how a witness's testimony changed since 2015 and asked how many of them carried guns for personal safety.
Jurors were instructed to gather their belongings after being selected and went into sequestration Tuesday night.
The trial begins at 9 a.m. today in Steelman's court.
Contact staff writer Zack Peterson at zpeterson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow him on Twitter @zackpeterson918.