Jury selection begins in mass murder trial from 2018 Waffle House shooting

Jury selection began Tuesday in the trial of a man charged with fatally shooting four people and injuring others at a Nashville Waffle House nearly four years ago.

Travis Reinking, 32, faces multiple murder charges in the April 22, 2018 early morning shooting at the restaurant in Antioch. Reinking, who has been in custody since his April 23, 2018 arrest, was indicted on 17 counts in the case, including four counts of premeditated first-degree murder.

Taurean C. Sanderlin, 29; Joe R. Perez, 20; DeEbony Groves, 21; and Akilah DaSilva, 23, died after investigators say a gunman walked into the restaurant just after 3:20 a.m. and opened fire with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, wounding several others in the process.

The killer was stopped by a patron who stood up and grabbed his gun.

The suspect ran off into the darkness that night, kicking off nearly two days of citywide tension as hundreds of officers, search dogs and helicopters swarmed neighborhoods and swept through schools hunting for him.

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A sequestered jury of 14

A pool of 170 potential jurors gathered inside the Jury Assembly Room at the downtown Davidson County courthouse Tuesday morning.

Later Tuesday in his courtroom, Criminal Court Judge Mark Fishburn spent time determining whether 50 potential jurors had a hardship that prevented them from serving.

Wearing a navy blue button down and olive slacks, Reinking sat uncuffed with his attorneys at the defense table listening to the judge questioning the potential jury of his peers who will determine his fate. He spoke infrequently and only to his lawyers.

After several hours of questioning, the judge dismissed more than two dozen people.

Among the jurors Fishburn excused was a surgeon who said he was concerned if he was sequestered he would not be able to help his patients. Several other excused jurors said they had extreme issues with childcare or said they had trouble speaking and understanding English.

Another man, an audio engineer for a country music group going on tour Monday through December, was excused because if he cannot go he would be unemployed the rest of the year.

Those without a hardship, 120 people, filled out questionnaires and were ordered to return to court in groups of 30 over the next two days.

The judge and lawyers in the case then plan to question the remaining pool over the next two days to whittle their number down to 60 people, then down to the 14 needed to start the trial — 12 jurors and two alternates.

Fishburn said he hopes jury selection can wrap by Friday but told potential jurors it could stretch into next week.

Because of the high publicity of the case, Fishburn said the jury will be sequestered in an area hotel for the duration of the trial. They will not be permitted to bring a phone, tablet or computer or watch the news.

The judge also told jurors they must be able to decide the case based upon its evidence.

The trial could start as early as Jan. 30 and could last through Feb. 13. Fishburn said it could be done as early as Feb. 8.

Related charge dropped

At a pretrial motion hearing Monday, Deputy District Attorney Roger Moore announced prosecutors were dropping one count of weapon possession against Reinking.

Under current state law, he said, it's unlikely carrying a weapon without a permit would still be illegal, as it was in 2018.

In April, Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill allowing most adults to carry a handgun without a permit, an effort that was at the top of his legislative agenda for the year.

Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty for Reinking, Davidson County District Attorney General Glenn Funk announced in early 2020.

On Tuesday, Fishburn told potential jurors if Reinking is convicted of at least one first-degree murder charge they will be tasked with deciding whether he is sentenced to life with parole or life without parole.

Natalie Neysa Alund is based in Nashville at The Tennessean and covers breaking news across the South for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at nalund@tennessean.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Waffle House shooting: Jury selection begins in murder trial