After jurors at her first trial could not reach a verdict on most of the charges, Amber Brooks is preparing to go on trial again in the 2013 fatal shooting of Michael Brown
Amber Brooks NEWARK -- Michael Brown was leaving a restaurant on Elizabeth Avenue in Newark on the night of Feb. 3, 2013 when he was suddenly shot in the lower back. The 49-year-old city resident fell to the ground and ultimately died.
Now for the second time, prosecutors are preparing to ask an Essex County jury to find that Amber Brooks killed Brown, an innocent bystander, when she was shooting at someone else.
Jury selection began on Tuesday in the second trial of Brooks, 21, of Newark, on murder and related charges in Brown's killing. At her first trial last year, the jury found Brooks not guilty of an attempted murder charge, but could not reach a verdict on the remaining charges.
Opening statements in the second trial are expected to take place on Jan. 12 before Superior Court Judge Carolyn Wright.
For the second trial, Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Roger Imhof is representing the state and Janelle Cleary is representing Brooks. Both of them are new to the case, since two different attorneys appeared at the first trial.
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Prosecutors have alleged the shooting occurred during an argument between Brooks, then 18, and Jennifer Prophet, who blamed Brooks for an earlier break-in at her apartment. Following that burglary, Prophet has said she and others went to Elizabeth Avenue to find Brooks.
After Brooks and others arrived at the scene, she allegedly fired the gun in Prophet's direction, but struck Brown as he was leaving a nearby restaurant, prosecutors said. Brown was not part of the dispute between Brooks and Prophet, prosecutors said.
The attempted murder charge that Brooks was acquitted of related to another man who allegedly accompanied Prophet.
The first trial hinged in large part on competing testimonies of people who claimed they witnessed the shooting, but differed on whether Brooks was there.
In one set of testimonies, Prophet and her uncle, Eugene Prophet, said Brooks pointed the gun in Jennifer Prophet's face. They claimed a man took the gun away from Brooks, but she snatched it back and opened fire.
Eugene Prophet said Brooks "got under the street light like she was on Hollywood" and started shooting.
But the defense's only witness, Tazmere Montague, said he was present at the time of the shooting and Brooks wasn't there. He claimed the shooter was one of three masked men.
Jurors at the first trial also were presented with surveillance video of Elizabeth Avenue at the time of the incident, which showed Brown being shot and falling to the ground.
All of the people involved, however, could not be clearly seen in the video.
Bill Wichert may be reached at bwichert@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillWichertNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
