A judge made the decision on Tuesday that the trial of the Alabama man who is accused of killing 18 people between the years 2023 and 2024, including two mass shootings, will take place in April of the following year.
However, his legal representatives have expressed concerns regarding the possibility of selecting impartial jurors from a city that is still reeling from the unprecedented levels of violence that occurred in the previous year.
The 22-year-old Damien McDaniel is being charged with murder in connection with 18 deaths that occurred in Birmingham, Alabama. Among those deaths, eight people were killed in two separate mass shootings that occurred in July and September. In addition, District Judge Shanta Owens of Jefferson County ruled that the prosecution has the legal authority to pursue the death penalty against McDaniel in accordance with Alabama law.
According to the records that were compiled by AL.com, the year 2024 was one of the deadliest years on record in Birmingham, with 151 incidents of homicide. It has been alleged by Birmingham police officers that McDaniel and another individual are responsible for more than thirty percent of those homicides. This accusation positions the 22-year-old as a central figure in the widespread violence that has affected hundreds of lives throughout the city.
Truman Fitzgerald, the public information officer for Birmingham, stated in November that “we often say on these crime scenes that we have a few select criminals that add to this crime and give Birmingham a bad name.” Baldwin County is known for its high rate of criminal activity.
According to his legal representatives, McDaniel, who is currently being held in a state prison, continues to assert his innocence. According to them, they have not yet seen any evidence of the crime.
Following the conclusion of the hearing, one of the attorneys who is representing McDaniel, John Robbins, stated that “the obvious concern is that we can’t get a jury that doesn’t know a whole lot about this case.”
Robbins stated that at some point in the future, we will be required to discuss whether or not it is possible to hold a fair trial in this county. He went on to say that his legal team was conducting surveys with prospective jurors all over the county.
Owens stated that she understood Robbins’ concerns regarding the selection of jurors who did not have a significant connection to McDaniel’s alleged victims. However, she cautioned that it may be impossible to eliminate anyone who is familiar with the allegations against McDaniel due to the impact that the shootings had on the city.
According to Owens, “I just don’t want to get to the point where we’re emptying the city of Birmingham” in search of jurors who are not familiar with the case or have any connection to the victims.
In order to clarify, Owens stated that it would be acceptable to have jurors who had a passing familiarity with some of the victims, provided that they were able to maintain their impartiality and did not know the victims “in depth” or “at length.”
When the courtroom was crowded on Tuesday, almost all of the available space was taken up by the large crowd. Individuals wore T-shirts that bore the names and faces of those who were alleged to have been victims of McDaniel. The hearing caused some people to shed tears.
McDaniel’s mother and a family member of one of the victims got into an argument prior to the beginning of the hearing, and court deputies compelled them to leave the courtroom once they were unable to continue their conversation. At the time of his appearance in court, McDaniel was chained at the wrists and ankles and was wearing a jumpsuit with red and pink stripes.
Following the conclusion of the hearing, Robbins stated that McDaniel’s mother has been the target of death threats.
The law enforcement officials are aware of it. Robbins expressed his gratitude to law enforcement for their intervention in the courtroom, commenting that the individuals in question did not take any action.
In April, McDaniel will be tried for the first time on the charges that are connected to a mass shooting that took place outside of a nightclub and resulted in the deaths of four individuals.
