Court orders judge to examine lack of young jurors in parish

BATON ROUGE, La. – A prosecutor says jury selection has resumed in the case of a Louisiana man accused of killing a police officer.

The Advocate reports the court directed Caddo Parish District Judge Ramona Emanuel to pause jury selection to examine a defence claim that none of the 566 potential jurors in Grover Cannon’s murder trial are younger than 26. KTBS-TV reports that a hearing on the issue has been scheduled tentatively for Tuesday.

The TV station also quotes Caddo Parish District Attorney James Stewart as saying that jury selection resumed Monday morning. Cannon is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Shreveport Officer Thomas LaValley. Eligibility for jury duty starts at age 18, but the MacArthur Justice Center found that the youngest Baton Rouge residents called to jury service in recent years are now approaching 26.

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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com