Martel Chisolm, left, and Demetris Cross listen through headphones as the judge and attorneys discuss the case in a sidebar.
The trial of two men accused in a deadly 2016 shooting that wounded an Atlantic City police officer will begin Thursday.
Martel Chisolm and Demetris Cross are accused of attempted murder, robbery and weapons offenses in an armed robbery that ended with their alleged partner and an Atlantic City police officer severely wounded.
It took two juror pools to pick the right women and six men who will make up the jury.
Jurors were asked if the fact that a police officer was injured would hinder their ability to be fair in rendering a verdict. They also were asked if the possible presence of uniformed officers during the trial would have any effect.
Officers Josh Vadell and Tommy McCabe were patrolling near the Tropicana at about 2:30 a.m. Sept. 3, 2016, when they saw six men near the Caesars parking garage and Ruby Tuesday’s.
Vadell told his partner to turn down Arkansas Avenue to see what was going on. The other officer turned on his overhead lights and pulled in toward the males.
One teen was standing in his boxer shorts with his pants around his legs, his fingers interlaced behind his head and a gun pointed at him, according to information previously released by the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office.
“Yo! They’re robbing us,” one of the teens yelled.
Vadell, in the passenger seat, started to get out of the vehicle when he was shot. McCabe quickly returned fired, and then tended to his partner.
“He literally held his head together,” said then-acting Atlantic County Prosecutor Diane Ruberton, who said the actions were caught on McCabe’s body camera. “He saved Josh’s life.”
About a block and a half away, Jerome Damon was found dead from a gunshot wound. Chisolm and Cross were arrested later by New Jersey State Police.
Both McCabe and Vadell, who is now retired, are expected to testify at the trial before Superior Court Judge John Rauh.
A grand jury previously found McCabe acted correctly in returning fire.
