Jury selection starts Thursday in the trial of Tieray Jones, accused of killing his 2-year-old step-son more than 15 years ago.
On April 25, 2002, Jahi Turner allegedly disappeared from a playground at 28th Street and Cedar Street in San Diego's South Park neighborhood.
According to police, Jones told officers he was with the toddler at the park when he left to get a drink for Jahi.
Jones said he returned 15 minutes later and Jahi was gone.
A huge search for Jahi ensued, including a week-long police search of the Miramar Landfill, where authorities took the extreme measure of systematically raking through 5,000 tons of garbage.
In 2016, homicide investigators arrested Jones and charged him with the toddler's death.
Judge Joan Weber will distribute questionnaires to potential jurors, to screen them for potential bias and conflicts in a murder trial that could take two months.
Opening statements are scheduled for next Tuesday, February 12.
Among other evidence, jurors will hear limited testimony from a search-and-rescue dog handler, whose canine found evidence that the defense says is favorable for Jones.
In pre-trial motions last month, Judge Weber ruled that jurors will not hear other, contested evidence of other findings by the specially-trained canines.
And jurors will not hear controversial DNA evidence that prosecutors said could establish that Jones had sexually assaulted the little boy, and killed him to cover-up such an assault.
At an earlier pre-trial hearing, the defense strongly objected to that evidence, describing it as extremely speculative and inflammatory.
Judge Weber voiced similar concerns about the use of those lab results at trial. “I don’t want the jury to wildly speculate about things,” she told the lawyers during that pre-trial hearing in December.
Local
Prosecutors have since decided not to argue for the option of presenting that evidence at the trial.
Though new evidence has been uncovered in the case, authorities have not found Jahi's body or remains, police said.
