Civil Trial Begins over Shooting Death of Deaunta Farrow

WEST MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A jury has been seated in a $250 million civil lawsuit filed against two West Memphis police officers involved in the June 2007 shooting death of a 12-year-old boy.

KAIT-TV reports that a panel of six men and six women was chosen Monday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Jonesboro. Attorneys for the family of DeAunta Farrow and his cousin, Unseld Nance Jr., plan to begin calling witnesses Tuesday.

Officers Erik Sammis and Jimmy Evans were conducting nighttime surveillance in June 2007 when Sammis fatally shot DeAunta, whom investigators say was holding a toy gun in a dimly lit parking lot.

A special prosecutor concluded there wasn't enough evidence to charge the officers with a crime.

The children's families allege the officers used excessive force and violated their civil rights.

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Information from: KAIT-TV, http://www.kait8.com/