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Jury selection begins in trial of alleged Mo. hit man

courtCOLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Jury selection has begun in the trial of a man accused of killing a Columbia art dealer in exchange for $10,000, a car and a gun.

The Columbia Daily Tribune  reports 14 jurors will be selected from a pool of 120 candidates to hear the case against 26-year-old Casey D. Lewis of Shawnee, Oklahoma. He’s charged with first-degree murder in the 2013 shooting death of Brian Daniels.

James Thompson was a caretaker for the disabled victim, who had won a nearly $5 million settlement after he was badly injured in a 2005 apartment fire.

Police say Thompson hired Lewis to shoot Daniels, so he could inherit Daniels’ estate. Thompson was accused of forging Daniels’ will and has been convicted of murder.

It wasn’t immediately known who is representing Lewis.

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