A jury was chosen on Tuesday in the trial in which Myles Stout is charged with second-degree murder in the death of another youth, Myles Compton, at a home in Mountain Shadows.
Opening statements are set to begin on Wednesday at 9 a.m.
Stout is facing a possible sentence of 15-25 years that must be served at 100 percent.
He has been free on bond since Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman cut his bond to $27,000 in April 2011. General Sessions Court Judge David Bales had set it at $117,000.
The shooting occurred March 9, 2011, at 9125 Stoney Mountain Dr., where Stout and several friends and acquaintances were “just hanging out,” prior testimony indicated.
Prior to the shooting, witness Amanda Freeman testified that Stout had been pointing the gun at Compton, who repeatedly asked him to stop. "He was backing away, like this," she said, holding up her hands in the traditional gesture of surrender. "You could tell he was nervous."
There was no argument, she and other witnesses agreed, and everybody was getting along.
"I honestly don't know what happened," she said.
Ms. Freeman said Stout "literally had his hand like this and pushed it in (Compton's chest)."
Kevin West was also present at the Mountain Shadows home along with Kevin Driscoll. They were in Driscoll's bedroom.
Driscoll admitted getting his father's guns out of a gun box. He said he and Stout planned to go shooting the next morning.
Ms. Freeman said Driscoll and West handled the gun carefully. But she said of Stout, "I remember him just messing around and pointing it at me. I know he was just kidding, but it scared me and I said, 'please don't do that.'" She said Driscoll also asked Stout not to point the weapon at him.
Ms. Freeman said after the gun went off that Stout immediately said, "I'm done," and then made a gesture like his throat was being cut.
She said Compton managed to say, "My heart."
She said Stout ran out of the room, saying, "Tell them that I didn't shoot him, that he shot himself."
A charge of tampering with evidence against Stout was dismissed after Driscoll said he was the one who tossed two unfired bullets in the back yard.
Also dropped was a charge of filing a false police report.
Stout was on probation for DUI at the time of the killing.