COLUMBUS, Ohio — The second trial of a former Columbus police vice officer began after a group of 12 jurors and three alternates were selected on Tuesday.
Andrew Mitchell is charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Donna Castleberry on Aug. 23, 2018.
Mitchell is facing a retrial after a jury was unable to reach a verdict last April.
The night Castleberry was killed, Mitchell had picked her up during an alleged undercover prostitution sting.
While attempting to arrest Castleberry, the two ended up in a fight. Castleberry cut Mitchell with a knife before he fired six shots inside the vehicle.
Mitchell has claimed he acted in self-defense after she stabbed him in the hand.
Prosecutors previously said it was Castleberry who was defending herself, pointing to the fact she was found shot in the back of Mitchell’s car while reportedly attempting to escape.
The prosecution played the audio of the encounter for the jurors on Tuesday.
“You will hear her ask for proof he was a cop. She said she had worked with vice before and had never had a cop act like that,” Franklin County Prosecuting attorney Sheryl Prichard said.
Castleberry's family, who were in court every day in the last trial, became emotional hearing her last words.
Defense attorney Kaitlyn Stephens told jurors as tragic as it is, they need to put themselves in Mitchell’s shoes.
“Ask yourself, is it more likely than not that he was in fear of a deadly attack?” Stephens argued.
Stephens told jurors they need to consider what a reasonable police officer would have done in the situation.
Testimony in the case will begin Wednesday.
Mitchell is also facing federal charges for allegedly forcing women to have sex with him under the threat of an arrest, pressuring others to cover up crimes and lying to federal investigators. That trial is currently scheduled begin in July.
In 2021, Columbus City Council approved a settlement of more than $1 million with Castleberry's family.