Jury selection begins in trial of suspected Pizza X shooter

Nearly two years after Pizza X driver Adam Sarnecki was shot coming back from a late-night delivery, the man accused of killing him will stand trial.

Jury selection began Monday in the murder trial of James Finney, 23, accused of shooting Sarnecki, 22, in November 2011.

A pool of 100 potential jurors was called Monday. Twelve jurors, plus two alternates, will be selected to hear evidence as the trial gets underway.

Finney was arrested in 2011 and originally denied the crime, police said, as well as two other shootings police said at the time were related.

In the days before Sarnecki was shot and killed with a .380 semi-automatic handgun, a 60-year old woman walking her dog was shot in the thigh by a gun of the same caliber. The day before, a Smoke-N-Lotto Specialty Store in rural Monroe County was robbed by a man gaining entry with a similar gun.

Later, police say, Finney changed his story, saying he had shot Sarnecki in a botched robbery attempt outside the Pizza X location on S. Walnut Street.

In February 2012, Finney's lawyers entered a motion saying their client was not sane the night of the shooting, but that motion was withdrawn last week. Monroe Circuit Judge Marc Kellams also denied a request from the defense to take jurors to the scene of the crime in a pretrial hearing last Friday.

Jury selection is expected to continue all day Monday and into Tuesday. Opening arguments are expected to begin later this week.

— Charles Scudder

Follow reporter Charles Scudder on Twitter at @cscudder for updates throughout the trial of accused Pizza X shooter James Finney.