Jury selection began Monday in the trial of a 17-year-old who is charged with murder in the shooting death of a Carrollton woman.

Aerius “Pete” “P” Potts is charged with two counts of murder, eight counts of aggravated assault, three counts of first-degree cruelty to children, and single counts of armed robbery, possession of a gun or knife during the commission of a crime and possession of a pistol or revolver by a person under the age of 18. The charges stem from an alleged armed robbery on July 19, 2006, during which Paolo Cabanas, 35, was fatally shot in her home in Elizabeth Village.

Potts was one of nine young men who were charged in the case.

According to testimony given at other trials, Potts directed Christopher “C-Weezy” Coleman, 20, who has pleaded guilty to murder and other charges, to Elizabeth Village so he could get a gun from Marcus Tyrone Oliphant, 19. Oliphant was found guilty on all charges during his trial.

Coleman, who has also testified at the trials of LaBryan “B” “Brian” Lytle, 19, Varion “Snoopy” Shell, 18, Chade Lamont Ackey, 19 and Randall “Boots” Laye, 19, said Potts fired at the mobile home first.

Lytle was found guilty by a jury, Shell and Ackey were acquitted and Laye was found guilty of armed robbery and is awaiting sentencing. The ninth codefendant, Cody Buchanan, 19, is expected to go to trial in August.

The night Cabanas was fatally shot, her husband, Jorge Espinosa, was grazed by a bullet that passed through the mobile home. Her bother-in-law, Pedro Espinosa, was shot in the leg. Also shot that night was Sabrina Montsivais, who was 9 at the time. Both of her legs were pierced by a bullet.

Because Potts’ trial is expected to last two weeks, Superior Court Judges Dennis Blackmon and John Simpson had to dismiss several potential jurors because of work or school obligations. The 36 remaining jurors will meet to be questioned at the former West Central Technical College building the county now uses as overflow court space. Simpson heard juror excuses Monday morning while Blackmon went over the court calendar.

Public Defender Suellen Fleming, who is representing Potts, said they were left with a “non-representational pool to chose from” because several black jurors had been dismissed.

“We ask for a new pool to be pulled,” she said. “This is too important of a case to leave this issue.”

Blackmon denied the request, saying that the black jurors that came to him and asked to be removed had work or school obligations. One person, he said, was a potential witness in the case and another said she knew several of the young men charged in the case.