Nearly 200 protesters chanted outside a Chicago courthouse Wednesday as jury selection began in the first-degree murder trial of a white police officer accused of killing a black teenager.
Prospective jurors were given questionnaires to fill out. Though the documents were sealed, they likely were asked how closely they followed media coverage of the 2014 shooting and whether they had seen the dashcam video showing Officer Jason Van Dyke firing 16 shots at 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was holding a knife but apparently walking away from officers.
The case against Van Dyke has polarized much of Chicago.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who announced this week he would not seek a third term, came under intense scrutiny for trying to block the release of the dashcam footage. He and his team of city attorneys released it only after a judge in 2015 ordered them to do so.
