Trial under way in East Side shooting case

YOUNGSTOWN — Jury selection began Tuesday and will continue today in the trial of Jumal Edwards, 23, of Woodcrest Avenue, an alleged occupant of a car from which shots were fired at pursuing police on July 1, 2005, on the city’s East Side. Edwards is charged with seven counts of felonious assault on police officers and with the kidnapping and carjacking of a church secretary on the same day in his trial before Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Judge Evans sentenced Craig Franklin Jr., 19, of Glenwood Avenue, to 105 years in prison in the same incident after a jury convicted him in August of seven counts of felonious assault with specifications for firing a gun from a motor vehicle. Trials are still forthcoming for two other alleged occupants of the car: Brandon C. Jackson, 23, of Truesdale Avenue, and Duniek Christian, 22, of North Garland Avenue.