Jury selection underway in trial of Caysen Allison, charged in stabbing death of Joe Ramirez at Belton High School in 2022
First photo taken of Caysen Allison since his arrest when he was 18
BELL COUNTY, Texas (KWTX) - Jury selection started Wednesday in the case against Caysen Allison, who is charged with murder after a fatal stabbing of Joe Ramirez at Belton High School in May of 2022.
Allison has been out on bond since July of that same year after a judge dropped his $1-million bond down to $175,000. Allison has been on house arrest ever since.
The jury selection is thorough. After a full day, it is still unknown who will be deciding the outcome of this trial.
Those who weren’t dismissed Wednesday will return to the courthouse on Thursday morning to finish out the process.
A typical trial of this magnitude starts with 70 potential jurors and narrows it down from there. This trial started with 120 people to choose from.
Allison is being represented by Melissa Tyroch and Zachary Boyd, out of Temple.
For the selection process, Judge Wade Faulkner allotted four hours for each side to question potential jurors.
In this case, the selected jurors will only be deciding if Allison is guilty or not. Allison elected to have the judge decide his fate which would range anywhere from five years to life in prison, if he is found guilty.
The prosecutor, John Erskine, spent the majority of his time talking about complex laws governing self-defense and when someone is justified in the use of deadly force.
Also in the courtroom, the mother and sisters of the victim. They were in the courtroom from start to finish.
Jury selection will resume Thursday until the twelve who will serve are selected. They will then take off for a week and then testimony is set to begin on April 14.
The court will be closed on Good Friday, April 18, then they will pick it back up on April 21 and expect it to go until at least April 25.
RELATED COVERAGE:
Belton community remembers Joe Ramirez, Jr. a year after he was fatally stabbed at school
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