On Friday afternoon, a 12-member jury and 4 alternates were chosen in the trial of a man accused of killing a baby four years ago. The state is seeking the death penalty in the case.

Mark Cox, spokesman for the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office said about 200 people had been summoned to appear for jury duty. The panel of jurors consists of 10 white females, 1 Black man, 2 Hispanic men, and 3 white men.

The State is seeking the death penalty in the case. Opening arguments began in the case before Judge William Fuente Monday.

Defense attorneys representing Richard Antony McTear, Jr., have entered a not guilty plea and contend that someone else committed the crime.  McTear is accused of taking 3-month-old Emmanuel Wesley Murray, Jr., from his mother, Ms. Jasmine Bedwell on May 5, 2009, around 3:15 a.m.

Ms. Bedwell told Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies that McTear, 25, who was her boyfriend at the time, had taken her baby during a fight. McTear, also allegedly threw the infant down on the concrete before fleeing with him.

Around 4:30 a.m., that morning, a passerby discovered the infant on Interstate 275, southbound at Fowler Avenue. The preliminary investigation indicated that the infant had been thrown from a vehicle. The body was identified as that of the infant Murray.

Police later found McTear hiding in the backyard of an apartment in the Robles Park Public Housing Complex and was taken into custody by the Tampa Police Department.

McTear was charged with several crimes including first-degree murder, felony battery, burglary with battery, aggravated child abuse and kidnapping.

As McTear was being escorted to jail, reporters yelled questions at him about the crime. His response was, ‘It’s a dirty game.’

McTear has been in the Hillsborough County Jail without bond since his arrest on May 5, 2009.