KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson covers Kansas City, Missouri. Share your story idea with Alyssa.
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A Johnson County jury will hear evidence this week in a murder trial connected to the death of a Fairway police officer.
Ofc. Jonah Oswald was shot and killed in 2023 after two suspects, Shannon Marshall and Andrea Cothran, led officers on a chase of a stolen vehicle from Lenexa to Mission.
Oswald was 29 years old when he was killed.
KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson has been following the case for years, and she was in the courtroom for jury selection on Monday.
The trial was initially scheduled to start in 2024, but Cothran fired her attorney a month before proceedings.
Robert Metz, a former officer at the Fairway Police Department, was a close friend of Oswald.
He last saw him during a shift change the morning of the shooting.
"He took his job seriously, but he was so fun-loving," Metz said. "He was just a blast to be around in uniform and out of uniform. He made situations better even when things were rough, things were hard or we were tired."
Cothran faces eight felony charges, including first-degree murder. She is accused of stealing a Jeep Cherokee from a gas station and hitting a police cruiser before crashing the vehicle.
The man accused of shooting Oswald was killed on the scene after exchanging gunfire with officers.
Cothran was arrested in a different area of the gas station from where the shooting occurred.
The trial will be the first time body camera footage from that day is shown to the public.
In many cases involving the death of an officer, charges involve capital murder. A criminal defense attorney shared why that's not relevant to this case.
"Both lawyers will spend a good portion of closing arguments talking about the law that’s in front of them, why it applies or why it doesn’t apply," said Brandan Davies, criminal defense attorney for Roth Davies LLC. "Because this lady isn’t the one who actually killed him (Oswald), this is the highest level they can prosecute to get to first degree."
Metz told KSHB 41 he'd rather the court take its time than rush and make the wrong decision.
"I had to come to the realization that no matter what, it’s not gonna bring Jonah back," Metz said. "The real important part of the trial is the person charged can’t do this again."
The trial is expected to last two weeks.
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