Midday Roundup: Trial of Chris Kyle's accused killer starts today

Sniper trial. The man charged with the murder of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, whose story is told in the blockbuster movie American Sniper, goes on trial today in Texas. Eddie Ray Routh is charged with murder in the deaths of both Kyle and Chad Littlefield. The two were trying to help Routh with emotional problems after his stint in the Marines. Marcia McCormick of the St. Louis University School of Law said choosing an unbiased jury with so much publicity was a challenge. “The judge worked pretty hard to create a screening process to try to get a group of jurors that weren’t going to have forgone conclusions about the guilt or innocence of the defendant,”she said. Four times the usual number of potential jurors were asked about publicity surrounding the film. Seeing the movie or reading the book was not sufficient grounds for dismissal from jury service. Judge Jason Cashon denied defense requests to move the trial elsewhere. Routh’s lawyers plan to use an insanity defense.“The whole combination just makes it not a very sympathetic case for Mr. Routh,”McCormick said.

Hate crime? Police are investing the shooting deaths of three young Muslims near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus. Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, and his sister-in-law Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, were all shot in the head. Their neighbor, 46-year-old Craig Stephen Hicks, has been accused of the crime and turned himself in to police. He is cooperating with the investigation, according to officials. Although early reports speculated the murders might be hate crimes, motived by the victims’religion, police say the attack stemmed from a long-running dispute over parking at the apartment complex where they all lived. Barakat was in his second year at the UNC School of Dentistry and was raising money to provide dental care to Syrian refugees in Turkey. His wife was getting ready to begin her dental studies, and Abu-Salha was a student at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

Easy vote. President Obama’s pick to be the new secretary of defense has cleared the first hurdle in the confirmation process. A panel voted 25 to zero to confirm former Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter as the new Pentagon chief. The Heritage Foundation’s Dakota Wood said Carter should have no trouble being confirmed when the full Senate votes, possibly this week.“During the confirmation hearing, you really saw more comments directed at the administration than at Ashton Carter as the incoming secretary of defense,”Wood said, adding that if confirmed, Carter will do a good job, but it won’t be easy. “A series of secretaries have all said, either in books or in interviews following their departure from public service, that they were increasingly frustrated by the micromanagement from the president’s national security team.”

Use of force. Congress also is expected to take up the president’s request for a new authorization for the use of military force against ISIS and other terrorist groups. The president’s proposal limits the use of force for “enduring offensive ground combat operations” and will automatically expire in three years. The president also must give Congress progress reports every six months. “Voting to authorize the use of military force is one of the most important actions Congress can take, and while there will be differences, it is my hope that we will fulfill our constitutional responsibility, and in a bipartisan way, pass an authorization that allows us to confront this serious threat,”said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. Congress likely won’t vote on the measure until March.

Not what they seemed. Little League International has stripped Chicago-based Jackie Robinson West of last year’s national title after an investigation revealed the team falsified its boundary map. The decision came after a rival coach accused the team of drafting players outside its limits. Jackie Robinson West gained national attention during last year’s Little League World Series because it came from Chicago’s violent, segregated South Side, and all the team’s players were African-American.

WORLD Radio’s Christina Darnell and Jim Henry contributed to this report.