MIAMI – Jury selection continued Tuesday in the trial of a man accused of fatally shooting a cyclist following a confrontation along the Rickenbacker Causeway in Miami in 2019.
Kadel Piedrahita, 46, was present as the prospective jurors were brought into the courtroom of Judge Alberto Milian. He has been charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault with a firearm related to the death of 48-year-old Alex Palencia in August 2019.
They were informed about what Piedrahita was charged with and asked questions as attorneys worked to select a fair and impartial jury before the trial gets underway.
Defense attorneys are arguing that Piedrahita was not the aggressor.
At one point during this process, as this has been going through the courts, they’ve played cellphone video for the judge of the deadly confrontation and tried to show that their client was firing in self-defense.
Prosecutors, though, have argued that both the video and witness statements show otherwise — that Piedrahita was the aggressor.
There’s no indication that attorneys were ready to seat a jury or that opening statements could come Tuesday.