Jury selected to hear lesser charge in NC case

WILSON -- Twelve jurors have been selected to hear evidence in the trial of a man once charged with murder but now facing a lesser charge in the death of a 17-year-old North Carolina woman. Attorneys finished selecting the main panel of jurors Thursday to hear the case of 22-year-old James Arthur Johnson. The Wilson Daily Times reported that alternate jurors would be selected Friday. Testimony is scheduled to begin Monday. Johnson was accused in the 2004 kidnapping, rape and death of 17-year-old Brittany Tyler Willis. Johnson was jailed from July 2004 until September 2007, when his bail was lowered. The original charges were dropped in December 2007 and a special prosecutor brought a charge of accessory after the fact of murder a month later. (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)