Jury selection Monday, March 20, 2017, in the second-degree murder trial of Shreveport chef and nightclub owner Mark Colby resulted in about a third of the jury being chosen over just over four hours.
Selection ended for the day around 6:30 p.m. with four empaneled, one man and three women. They were culled from a panel of 14 possibles, with both the prosecution and defense attorneys availing themselves of strikes through voir dire.
In all, eight more jurors will be chosen, with two alternates also to be selected. The process is expected to take several days and will resume at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 21, 2017, in Caddo District Judge John D. Mosely’s courtroom.
Colby, 60, incarcerated in Caddo Correctional Center, is charged with second-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of his longtime partner, 53-year-old Angela Godley.
Godley’s body was found Sept. 10, 2014 in the laundry room of the house the couple shared in the 1900 block of Bayou Drive in Shreve Island. Godley had been shot several times in the upper body. The two were partners in the Noble Savage Tavern in downtown Shreveport. Colby fled to Mexico after the shooting but was found and arrested several days later.
Colby is defended by Curtis R. Joseph Jr., while Caddo Parish Assistant District Attorneys Britney A. Green and Ron Christopher Stamps are prosecuting.
If convicted of second-degree murder, Colby faces a mandatory life term in prison at hard labor without parole, probation or suspension of sentence.