Jury selection begins Monday in the murder trial of an Ellenwood teen accused of fatally shooting his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend, then trying to cover up the death.
Kevin Kosturi was 15 at the time of Angel Hope Freeman’s death nearly two years ago.
Kosturi took Freeman to a makeshift fort in the woods near his home, where he shot her, police said.
He allegedly hid the .38-caliber handgun used in the killing, then told police that a Hispanic man shot his ex-girlfriend.
Police eventually found the gun after Kosturi reportedly changed his story and told investigators where it was hidden.
He was arrested in March 2012 and charged as an adult.
Prosecutors are charging him with murder, felony murder – that is, causing a person’s death while committing a felony — aggravated assault, tampering with evidence, giving false statements to police, possession of a gun during the commission of a felony and gun possession by a minor.
Also on trial will be Kosturi’s then-next-door-neighbor, Robert Allen Bethune, who prosecutors say gave the teen the alleged murder weapon.
Bethune, 21 at the time of the shooting, is being charged with furnishing a pistol or revolver to a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Bethune was arrested in August 2012 on those charges and a charge of unlawfully entering a vehicle. Although a Clayton County Superior Court judge granted him a $56,000 bond, Bethune has remained in the Clayton County Jail.
Kosturi could serve multiple life sentences if convicted of the most serious offenses, the murder and felony murder charges.
Attorneys in the case begin picking their jury at 9 a.m., at the Clayton County Courthouse.
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