New pool of potential jurors to be questioned in Hastings retrial

Jury selection will continue with a new pool of 60 prospective panelists in the fourth day of the manslaughter retrial of Josh Hastings, the Little Rock police officer who was fired and charged after fatally shooting a teenage suspect last year.

After more than two hours of questioning Thursday, Judge Wendell Griffen sent five seated jurors and about 20 other potential panelists home to make way for the new group of possible jurors set to be questioned Thursday afternoon.

Griffen said it wouldn't be fair to make the first group wait while the next pool is questioned Thursday afternoon and possibly into Friday morning. He asked them to return to the courtroom at 1 p.m. Friday.

"This is a process that requires we be attentive and diligent," Griffen told the first group.

Six jurors were seated but not sworn in Wednesday, but proceedings began Thursday with one being excused after telling the judge her aunt died and the funeral is Friday.

Griffen must pick seven more jurors and two alternates.

Griffen said earlier Thursday it would be "ideal" if the jury is picked in time to have opening statements later that day, but the process didn't move quickly enough for that outcome.

Hastings fatally shot 15-year-old Bobby Moore III in August 2012 while responding to a report of vehicle break-ins at a Little Rock apartment complex.

Hastings contends he opened fire while Moore drove a vehicle at him in the dark parking lot, but police investigators said they determined the car was not moving toward Hastings at the time and may have been in reverse.

After a jury earlier this year couldn't agree on a verdict, the retrial started Monday.

Read more in Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

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