photo by: Elvyn Jones

Lawrence Police Department officers investigate a fatal Saturday night shooting at Motel 6 in North Lawrence, Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017.

Potential jurors filled two courtrooms — the main courtroom and an overflow room — as Douglas County District Court’s third murder trial in a month got underway Monday morning.

With not one but three defendants facing murder plus other violent felony charges, the group of jurors called to be on hand was exceptionally large for Douglas County — about 140, court clerk Doug Hamilton confirmed.

The goal is to whittle that large group down to 12 jurors plus alternates. Attorneys estimated that process would take two full days before witness testimony begins, and the entire trial is projected to take two full weeks.

The case stems from a fatal shooting that occurred about 11:30 p.m. Sept. 2, 2017, inside Room 308 of the North Lawrence Motel 6, 1130 N. Third St. A group of nine men had been partying in the room when gunfire erupted, killing 23-year-old Cameron Hooks, of Lenexa, and injuring two other men.

Tyrone J. Carvin, 19, of Kansas City, Kan.; Ramone Singleton, 23, of Kansas City, Kan.; and Shawn K. Smith, 19, of Kansas City, Mo., are going on trial as a group.

Each is charged with first-degree felony murder, for allegedly killing Hooks during the commission of an armed robbery; aggravated battery; aggravated assault; and attempted armed robbery.

Charges and previous testimony allege that the three co-defendants and a fourth suspect — who hasn’t been publicly named or charged — suddenly got up from different locations in the room and started firing while trying to rob other men they’d been hanging out with.

The three defendants are each being held on $1 million bond.

After potential jurors were seated Monday morning, Judge Sally Pokorny addressed them beginning about 10 a.m. Prosecutor Mark Simpson began questioning them shortly afterward.

photo by: Mike Yoder

From left, Tyrone J. Carvin, Shawn K. Smith and Ramone Singleton appear during a joint preliminary hearing on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017, in Douglas County District Court. The three men are charged with murder and other crimes in connection with a Sept. 2, 2017 shooting at the North Lawrence Motel 6.

Simpson’s questioning continued throughout the day. Remaining potential jurors were instructed to return to continue the selection process Tuesday morning.

The last murder trial in Pokorny’s courtroom was for Carrody M. Buchhorn, of Eudora, for which around 75 potential jurors were called in on the first day, Pokorny said at a pre-trial hearing in the Motel 6 case.

Buchhorn’s trial began July 16 and, after nearly two weeks, jurors found her guilty of second-degree murder in the 2016 death of a 9-month-old Eudora boy who was in her care at a Eudora home day care.

Before the verdict in Buchhorn’s trial, a murder trial for Danny W. Queen, of Eudora, began in another courtroom. After a trial lasting a week and a half, Queen was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2017 shooting death of another Eudora man outside a Eudora bar.

Prior to July, Douglas County District Court had not had a murder trial in more than a year.