Have questions about jury pool been answered?

A second round of jury selection is slated to begin today in the case of a Northwood man accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death in 2013.

Tyrone Washington Jr., 41, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Justina Smith, 30, on the morning of Aug. 5, 2013, in Northwood’s Swensrud Park. Smith died from what authorities described as multiple sharp-force injuries, according to an autopsy.

Washington’s trial had been set to begin in May after it was moved from Worth County to Webster County because of pretrial publicity and concerns about racial prejudices in the community.

At that time, District Judge Colleen Weiland dismissed the panel of potential jurors summoned to hear the case, after Washington’s lawyer expressed concerns that the nearly all-white panel prejudiced the defendant’s possibility of getting a fair trial. Washington is African-American.

Of the 112 potential jurors at that time, 111 identified themselves as white, while one identified himself as Native American.

According to the Mason City Globe Gazette, both sides have met to discuss different methods for obtaining names of potential jurors to get a more racially diverse pool to choose from.

Washington is being held in the Worth County Jail on a $500,000 bond pending the trial.