Lack of jurors forces mistrial for man accused of killing former Nolan High baseball star
A mistrial was declared this week in the murder trial of a New Mexico man accused in the shooting death of a University of a New Mexico baseball player and Nolan Catholic High School graduate.
Second Judicial District Judge Cindy Leos declared the mistrial Wednesday after attorneys were able to seat only 11 jurors — one short of the 12 required, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
Prosecutors plan to see a retrial, but it would not be until early 2022.
Attorneys had a limited jury pool, but a prosecutor said he didn’t know if that was because of COVID-19. Attorneys had a pool of 50 potential jurors.
Darin Bashir, 25, is charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the May 2019 shooting death of 23-year-old Jackson Weller outside of a nightclub.
Surveillance video showed a man, later identified as Bashir, walk up to Weller, pull a gun from his waist and shoot him once, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
Friends of Weller who were with him told detectives Weller had been in a fistfight with several people before the shooting, but Bashir was not one of them, according to the arrest warrant obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
After the minor scuffle, Weller was standing with his hands open and by his sides when he was shot by Bashir, according to the arrest warrant for Bashir.
.jpg "jackson weller (black).jpg")
Weller played baseball at Nolan in Fort Worth, graduating in 2014.
After graduation, Weller played baseball at a junior college in Arizona and transferred to New Mexico in 2018.
