ALTUS — With the Jackson County Courthouse under tight security, a jury of six men, six women and a male alternate was seated Monday afternoon in the trial of Mark Adam Prentice on a charge of shooting with intent to kill.

Prentice, 30, who has pleaded not guilty in the shooting of Benny Ceniceros in the early morning hours of Labor Day 2004, is being defended by R. Scott Adams and Joe Brett Reynolds of Adams and Associates of Oklahoma City.

Before the 12 jurors and alternate were culled from a pool of 23 potential jurors in the voir dire process, Adams and Assistant District Attorney Jan Warren emphasized the jurors’ duty to weigh each and every element of the case and to consider the defendant, Prentice, not guilty of the crime until proven otherwise beyond any reasonable doubt.

Adams said he has instructed Prentice to sit with a “poker face” throughout the trial, which he did Monday afternoon while the jury was being selected.

The jury was seated shortly before 4 p.m. and opening arguments were set for 9 a.m. today in a trial expected to last three days.

Prentice’s co-defendant in the case, John Paul Salomon, 25, pleaded guilty to a string of felonies on Sept. 30 of this year, — including shooting with intent to kill both Benny Ceniceros and his brother, Guadalupe Ceniceros, on Sept. 6 and 7, 2004, respectively. Those two counts, as well as his guilty pleas to charges of possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) and drug paraphernalia (a glass pipe and five syringes) and an additional charge of possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) could earn him life in prison.

Benny Ceniceros pleaded guilty Sept. 6 of this year to a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon and a charge of possession of a firearm after conviction or during probation. He was sentenced to 10 years in the state Department of Corrections on the assault charge and five years on the firearm charge, to run concurrently, with five years suspended.

Guadalupe Ceniceros remains jailed following his arrest March 10 on charges of trafficking in methamphetamine and conspiracy to distribute a controlled dangerous substance.

Salomon and the two Ceniceros brothers are expected to be called as witnesses in the case.

Prentice, who has been jailed since his arrest Dec. 15 in the shooting of Ceniceros, is also charged with first degree murder in the shooting death of James Petty, 34, who was found dead on the morning of Nov. 12 off the road near an intersection of South County Road 203 and East County Road 166, the victim of multiple gunshot wounds. If he is convicted of the murder of Petty, at a trial to be held at a later date, Prentice faces the death penalty.