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WFAE's coverage of the case of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Randall Kerrick charged with voluntary manslaughter in the death of Jonathan Ferrell. The court case ended in a mistrial.

Full Jury Seated In Kerrick Trial

Charlotte Observer

Update, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday
Four alternate jurors were seated Wednesday. Opening arguments are scheduled to begin Monday at 9:30 a.m.

Twelve jurors are now seated in the Randall Kerrick trial. Kerrick is on trial for voluntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting two years ago of an unarmed African-American man, 24-year-old Jonathan Ferrell. The defense and prosecution started grilling potential jurors early last week, with the 12th juror being seated Tuesday.

Credit Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office
Former CMPD officer Randall Kerrick on trial for voluntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed African-American man.

The 12th juror is the first African-American man seated. He is 67 years old and a Vietnam veteran. With his seating, there are four white women, three white men, two Latina women, two African-American women and one African-American man on the jury.

It took seven days for a full jury to be seated. Both sides grilled the jury pool on what they knew about the case, how often they watched the news, their opinions on police shootings in other cities, and whether they had formed opinions on Kerrick’s innocence or guilt. A few, including a chemist on Tuesday, were excused because they said they think Kerrick is guilty.

The two sides are currently going through the process of selecting alternate jurors. Presiding Judge Robert Ervin says he will be “stunned” if all alternate jurors are seated by Wednesday.  

Gwendolyn is an award-winning journalist who has covered a broad range of stories on the local and national levels. Her experience includes producing on-air reports for National Public Radio and she worked full-time as a producer for NPR’s All Things Considered news program for five years. She worked for several years as an on-air contract reporter for CNN in Atlanta and worked in print as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun Media Group, The Washington Post and covered Congress and various federal agencies for the Daily Environment Report and Real Estate Finance Today. Glenn has won awards for her reports from the Maryland-DC-Delaware Press Association, SNA and the first-place radio award from the National Association of Black Journalists.