COEUR d'ALENE - A jury was seated Tuesday for a 29-year-old St. Maries man accused of shooting to death his girlfriend on Christmas day 2011.

Joseph D. Herrera's trial was moved to Kootenai County after a jury couldn't be found on March 12 from among a pool of more than 100 potential jurors in Benewah County.

Too many in that pool had connections to either Herrera and his family or the family of the victim, 18-year-old Stefanie A. Comack.

Both families have been in the St. Maries community for many years.

The 14-person jury rounded up in Kootenai County - which for now includes two alternates who won't be identified until deliberations start - is made up of nine women and five men.

Herrera has been charged with second-degree murder for the killing at his parent's home in St. Maries.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charge, and his defense after the incident was that the death was accidental.

First District Court Judge Fred Gibler will be presiding over the trial.

It gets under way at 9 a.m. today with opening statements at the Juvenile Justice Building at 205 N. Fourth St.