Jurors heard opening statements from attorneys Wednesday in the Barton County District Court trial of Freddie Alec Thomas, who is charged with first-degree murder.

Thomas fatally shot Jeremy Alan Saldana outside of a Great Bend residence in 2015. He has entered a plea of not guilty, claiming self-defense.

Jury selection began Tuesday and prospective jurors were sent home not knowing if they would be selected for the trial, which is scheduled to last two weeks. Fourteen were called in Wednesday – seven men and seven women – and seated in the jury box. District Judge Carey Hipp explained that only 12 will be asked to reach a verdict. Two alternates will be randomly selected and dismissed when it is time to deliberate.

A preliminary hearing for this case was held in 2016 but District Judge Ron Svaty then dismissed it, granting the defense’s argument of self-defense. The Kansas Court of Appeals later overturned that ruling, saying Svaty erred and the case should be decided by a jury.

County Attorney Levi Morris and defense attorney Donald Anderson II agreed when they told jurors Wednesday that the state has the burden of proof in this case. No one disputes that Thomas shot and killed Saldana in Great Bend. Both mentioned that Saldana had a knife in his back pocket but was otherwise unarmed and was not carrying a weapon.

“What he did have in his hand was a Styrofoam cup from the Kwik Shop,” Morris said.

Thomas was a corrections officer at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility at the time and Morris mentioned his self-defense training. “He did not rely on self-defense training before he shot an unarmed man.”

Thomas and his girlfriend at the time, Sherry Murro, came to Great Bend from Ellsworth to visit Murro’s daughter, Marissa Reynolds, and see her grandchildren. What they didn’t know was that Murro’s former boyfriend Jeremy Saldana, known as “Poppy,” had been living at the Reynolds house for two years.

No one wanted a confrontation, Morris said. Saldana spent most of the day away from the house. For much of that time, he was at the park nearby, waiting to come home. He was drinking and texting Marissa Reynolds, who eventually told her guests they needed to leave and that Saldana was headed to the house.

They started to leave. Sherry Murro opened the door to Thomas’s vehicle and put her purse on the floorboard but Thomas went to the back of his vehicle and put on his personal bulletproof vest, Morris said. “He carried his 9 mm Rueger on his hip all night. ... These two guys got together in the middle of the (Reynolds’) front yard.”

Witnesses disagree if there was any physical contact, Morris said. But Thomas held out his arm, drew his weapon and shot Saldana twice in the chest and once in the head.

“At the end of the day, self-defense has to be necessary,” Morris said. “The moment he shot and killed him wasn’t necessary. That’s why we’re here.”

Defense attorney Anderson quoted former radio personality Paul Harvey and promised to give jurors, “The rest of the story” during the trial.

“There’s no conflict that Mr. Thomas shot and killed Mr. Saldana,” he said, adding he didn’t  disagree with “almost 100% of what Mr. Morris said.” But he does agree with the interpretation.

“It was the very first time those two gentlemen had ever been face to face,” Anderson said. But once Murro started dating Thomas, “Mr. Saldana relentlessly called her, and threatened Freddie,” he said. “You’re going to hear evidence that Mr. Saldana had a violent history and was known to carry weapons.”

While the state presents its evidence, Anderson said, the jurors shouldn’t jump to any conclusions. There is more to the story.

“Mr. Saldana had made threats. The N-word will be said a lot,” he said, referring to texts sent to Murro. “It lets you understand what his (Saldana's) demeanor was. He used the word a lot and clearly was not a fan of Mr. Thomas.”

Anderson said Thomas will testify when the defense presents its case next week.

“Don’t start deciding the case until you hear all of the evidence.”

On Thursday, the jury was sent home around 4 p.m. after one of Morris’s witnesses was unavailable. He said he expects to call eight witnesses on Friday and a few more on Monday.