NATCHEZ — The first day of the retrial of a Natchez teen accused of murder saw attempts from his attorney to discredit state witnesses and police work in the investigation.

Eddie Minor III, 19, is charged with murder and armed robbery in the December 2014 shooting death of 16-year-old Jessie E. Taylor.

Minor is being tried for the crimes a second time after his initial trial in December 2015 resulted in a hung jury.

In opening statements Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Tim Cotton briefed the jury on witness testimony and evidence the state intends to use to prove its case against Minor.

On the night of the shooting, Cotton said, Taylor had ridden his bicycle to a Beaumont Street residence, where he met with Minor, Emanuel C. Latham Jr. and others and asked for synthetic marijuana.

Cotton said Latham, Minor’s co-defendant in the case, is expected to testify that Minor told Taylor he had synthetic marijuana, and that Minor, Latham and Taylor walked down the street to retrieve it from another residence.

Latham will testify, Cotton said, that Taylor was told to wait on the porch, while Minor and Latham went inside, where Minor retrieved two handguns from a back room, gave one to Latham and told Latham to follow his lead, as the pair wielded their guns and robbed Taylor of the money he had in his pocket.

Latham’s testimony will show, Cotton said, that after a scuffle broke out, Taylor tried to hurry from the scene, and Minor shot at his feet. Latham will admit to shooting back, Cotton said, and testimony from another witness will show Taylor fired back after he appeared to have been struck by a bullet.

Though Latham did not take the stand Thursday, defense attorney Carmen Brooks, representing Minor, attempted to undermine Latham’s credibility as a witness in her opening statements, saying he is the only person who stands to gain from Minor’s conviction and expects leniency for his testimony.

Brooks asked the jury to consider not only what the evidence shows, but what it does not show.

Throughout cross-examination of Thursday’s witnesses, Brooks worked to poke holes in the Natchez Police Department’s investigation, which she said was concluded within 48 hours of the crime.

Former Natchez police officer Paulesha McBride, who now works for another agency, testified she was first on the scene and found Taylor in the area of Prince Street Day Care, lying on the ground in bloodied clothing.

McBride said Taylor begged her not to let him die and was in and out of consciousness.

“He said, ‘Officer, please don’t let me die,’” she said.

McBride and now retired Natchez Police Department Detective Otis Mazique, who was lead investigator in the case, testified Taylor told them he was robbed and shot by “two black males” before losing consciousness.

Brooks questioned whether Taylor would have used those words to describe his assailants, asserting that it seemed “unlikely someone would talk like that, using that kind of police jargon.”

Throughout Mazique’s testimony, Brooks repeatedly questioned the tactics used to investigate the case and Mazique’s commitment to the case, based on pointing out search warrants were never issued for the residences of Minor or Latham.

Mazique testified that in his experience with Minor, he did not keep his weapons at his residence.

After that statement, Brooks asked Judge Forrest “Al” Johnson to excuse the jury and made a motion for a mistrial based on Mazique’s statement being an attempt to prejudice Minor and that the jury could not remain fair and impartial after hearing that statement.

Johnson overruled the motion, but instructed the jury to disregard Mazique’s answer.

Brooks also questioned Mazique about phone records subpoenaed in the case. Mazique said at Minor’s first trial, he learned from Latham’s testimony that Latham provided his mother’s house phone number instead of his cell phone number.

Upon that realization, Mazique said he subpoenaed phone records for the cell number following the trial.

When asked by Brooks, Mazique testified, however, that he did not attempt to verify the number Latham gave him for Minor during an interview was in fact Minor’s number.

“As we sit here … you cannot tell this jury that any phone calls (associated with the number Latham gave as Minor’s number) have anything to do with Eddie Minor,” Brooks asked Mazique.

“I can’t do that,” Mazique said.

Brooks asked Mazique if it was possible that Latham and Tywone Noble, who was reportedly at the initial gathering on Beaumont Street where Taylor met Minor and Latham, were working together. Noble reportedly admitted to police he fired a gun in the air.

Brooks said, however, police never recovered his weapon and did not ask Noble to bring it to the station.

Mazique said he investigated that angle of the case, and that was not possible, but backtracked when further questioned by Brooks, and said, “Anything is possible, but no (that did not happen).”

Mazique said, when asked by Brooks, that he did not document his investigation into whether Latham and Noble were working together in his report. Also absent from the report was mention of two girls, one of which is Minor’s sister, who came to station and gave verbal statements to Mazique, Brooks said. Mazique said they refused to give written statements.

Additionally, Brooks said Mazique noted in his report that information about where Taylor discarded his gun near the scene came from an unknown person, when Mazique knew where the people who gave the information lived, but Mazique failed to “knock on doors” and attempt to get more information for the case.

“How are we supposed to know it happened if you didn’t put it in your report?” Brooks asked Mazique.

The jury is comprised of five black women, four white women, two black men and one white man, as well as an alternate, a black woman.

At the conclusion of Thursday’s proceedings, one juror was excused because of the expected birth of her grandchild today. The juror will be replaced today with the alternate juror, who was present in court Thursday.

Court will resume at 9 a.m. today in the Adams County Circuit Courtroom.