A jury has been selected for the trial of Theodore Wafer, a Detroit-area man who fatally shot 19-year-old Renisha McBride on his porch, according to Reuters.
Wafer, who is from Dearborn Heights, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old Renisha McBride, Reuters reported. Opening statements are set for Wednesday in Wayne County court.
Jury selection began on Monday for the white suburban Detroit homeowner who used a shotgun after hearing knocking and noise on his front porch to defend himself, according to Reuters.
Seven men and seven women are on the jury, including two alternates, Reuters reported.Four jurors are black.
Wafer says he heard pounding at the front door and fired his shotgun in self-defense around 4:30 a.m. on Nov. 2, but prosecutors say his use of deadly force was unreasonable, according to Reuters. McBride was drunk but unarmed and had been in a car crash about 3 1/2 hours earlier.
Judge Dana Hathaway asked jurors about their views on race due to the victim being black while Wafer is white, Reuters reported. The racially charged case has sparked protests in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, and comparisons to the 2012 shooting death of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.
If convicted, Wafer, 55, faces a second-degree murder charge and up to life in prison, according to Reuters.
Defense attorneys told a preliminary investigation in November that Wafer, an airport maintenance worker who cares for his elderly mother, feared for his life when the fatal shooting occurred, Reuters reported.
Wafer called 911 after the shooting and police have said he admitted firing the fatal shot but said it was an accident, according to Reuters.
McBride had a blood alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit for driving in Michigan when she died and had crashed a car hours before, according to witnesses who testified for prosecutors at the preliminary examination, Reuters reported. A woman who reported the crash testified, however, that McBride appeared confused and injured, not combative.
