Amherst County murder trial under wayJury selection began this morning in the murder trial of an Amherst County man accused of fatally shooting a 19-year-old man earlier this year. Timothy Wright Jr., who turned 22 today, is charged with first-degree murder, shooting at an occupied vehicle, shooting from a vehicle and use of a firearm firearm, device consisting essentially of a straight tube to propel shot, shell, or bullets by the explosion of gunpowder. Although the Chinese discovered gunpowder as early as the 9th cent., they did not develop firearms until the mid-14th cent. in the commission of a felony. Wright, wearing a dark blue shirt and light slacks with his left hand holding his right behind his back as he stood, answered “Not guilty, your honor” as Circuit Judge Michael Gamble read each count of the indictment to him. Family members of the victim, Justin Baumgardner, sat in the courtroom, including his parents, his step-mother and his brother, Zach Baumgardner, wearing a U.S. Air Force uniform with four stripes signifying the rank of staff sergeant staff sergeant n. 1. a. Abbr. SSG A noncommissioned rank in the U.S. Army that is above sergeant and below sergeant first class. b. Abbr. SSgt A noncommissioned rank in the U.S. . Virtually all of about 40 potential jurors acknowledged that they had read or heard about the case, and Gamble excused more than a dozen by midmorning mid·morn·ing n. The middle of the morning. after an hour of questions from the bench. Potential jurors also were questioned by the prosecutor, Rockingham County Rockingham County is the name of three counties in the United States of America:
Marst has been appointed as a special prosecutor special prosecutor: see independent counsel. to avoid a conflict of interest in the case, which was investigated by the Virginia State Police. The trial is expected to last until at least Friday and possibly take one more day, Gamble told potential jurors. Wright is accused of shooting Baumgardner as he drove on Virginia 130 on the evening of May 3. Justin Davis, 25, the son of an Amherst County sheriff’s deputy, is charged as an accessory in the slaying, the motive for which was jealousy. Davis testified against Wright at a hearing in early August and said Wright stole his pistol, which prose-cutors believe was used to shoot Baumgardner. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. testimony at the August hearing, Wright confronted Baumgardner at Monacan Park because he saw Baumgardner with Wright’s 17-year-old girlfriend. The girl started dating Wright after she and Baumgardner broke up. Marshall is the editor of the Amherst New-Era Progress. 
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