Jury selection begins Tuesday in Tallent murder case
Fallon Tallent, 23, is charged with first-degree murder and vehicular homicide in the July 9, 2003, deaths of Wilson County Sheriff’s Deputy John Musice, 43, and Mount Juliet Police Sgt. Jerry Mundy, 49.
The lawmen were killed on Interstate 40 near Lebanon when Tallent, who had a history of running from police, tried to drive around spike strips placed on the road during a cross-state chase. The 1986 Mercedes she was driving veered off the road and struck the two lawmen.
Publicity in the case prompted Wilson County Circuit Court Judge John Wootten Jr. to select a jury from a pool of residents in Sullivan County.
On Tuesday, prosecutors and defense attorneys will pick a panel of 12 jurors and three alternates. Wootten has said he expects jury selection to take a day. The jurors will board a bus the next day for Lebanon, where the trial will take place.
“It’s less expensive, less complicated and it serves the purpose that change of venue used to do,” said Tennessee Supreme Court spokeswoman Sue Allison. “Moving 12 people instead of an entire trial — the witnesses, court personnel, defendant, attorneys … It’s a more practical way to do it.”
District Attorney General Tommy Thompson, who has been in the DA’s office since 1977, said it’s the first time he can recall that an out-of-town jury has been chosen for a Wilson County case.
Wilson County District Attorney General Tommy Thompson contends in court documents that Tallent intended to kill any officer who stood in her way during the chase. Among the state’s witnesses will be Dorothy Cash, a crack cocaine addict who was a passenger in the car at the time of the crash.
Defense attorneys Craig Garrett and David Boyd say Tallent lost control of the car and did not mean to hit the lawmen. Garrett said last week that he was worried about trying the case in the community where Mundy and Musice lived.
“We are very concerned that the jury will be in Wilson County (and) under the care of the Wilson County Sheriff’s Department,” Garrett said. “Obviously, (Musice’s former co-workers) are very interested in this case. I’ll be asking (potential) jurors about that.”
Prosecutors added the vehicular homicide charge, a class C felony, late last year to the list of charges Tallent faces. That charge, defense attorneys contend, more appropriately fits evidence in the case.
Prosecutors last week filed a motion to dismiss the vehicular homicide charges, Garrett said.
Thompson’s office has declined comment on the case.
Garrett said Tallent is worried about the trial. “She’s very apprehensive about the whole thing,” he said.
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Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, www.knoxnews.com
Information from: The Tennessean, www.tennessean.com