Overview
- Jury selection started Monday in Tuskegee, marking the start of the long-awaited trial.
- Yazeed has pleaded not guilty to three capital murder counts that could bring the death penalty or life without parole.
- Prosecutors say Blanchard was abducted from an Auburn gas station in October 2019; her body was found about a month later in Macon County.
- At the time of her disappearance, authorities say Yazeed was out on bond for a prior violent offense, which led to Alabama’s “Aniah’s Law” allowing judges to deny bond in certain violent cases.
- Homewood City Hall is illuminated blue for 10 days in remembrance of Blanchard as proceedings get underway.