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Jury selection process underway for capital murder trial of Cedric Marks

Cedric Marks is charged with the murders of Jenna Scott and Michael Swearingin in 2019.

BELL COUNTY, Texas — The jury selection process for the capital murder trial of Cedric Marks began in a Bell County courtroom Tuesday.

Attorneys interviewed potential jurors in voir dire hearings, according to the Court Coordinator for the 426th District Court. Voir dire is defined as a preliminary examination of a witness or juror by a judge or counsel.

The trial has repeatedly been delayed due to motions filed by Marks who is representing himself.

Marks is charged with the murders of his ex-girlfriend Jenna Scott and her friend Michael Swearingin in Temple in January, 2019.

Marks is accused of killing Scott and Swearingin then, with the help of Maya Maxwell, burying their bodies on a piece of land his family owned in Oklahoma.

Marks and Maxwell were caught in Michigan and extradited to Texas later that month. Marks was brought back by a prisoner transport company that had a contract with the Bell County Sheriff's Department.

Marks escaped when the van stopped in Conroe Feb. 3. Authorities found him nine hours later hiding in a garbage can.

Marks was scheduled to enter a plea to lesser misdemeanor charges in a hearing on Feb. 24.

Maxwell is also charged with capital murder. Her next hearing was scheduled for March 31.

Marks was also charged in 2020 with second-degree murder in connection to the abduction and death of April Pease in Bloomington, Minnesota in 2009. Kellee Kristine Sorensen, 34, was also charged in that case.

Bloomington police said Marks and Pease lived in Washington state together and had a child.

Pease moved to a shelter in Bloomington in 2009, according to police. Pease was taken against her will from the shelter and, according to detectives, was killed at an unknown location by Marks as Sorenson sat in the vehicle. 

Pease's body has yet to be recovered.

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