BENTONVILLE -- Jury selection is scheduled to begin Friday for a Rogers man accused of stabbing another man to death.
Anthony Wayne Ballett, 42, is charged with capital murder. Prosecutors have waived the death penalty. Ballett will be sentenced to life imprisonment without the benefit of parole if convicted.
He has pleaded innocent.
Ballett is accused of killing 25-year-old Keundra Allen.
Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren is presiding over the trial.
Seventy-five prospective jurors have been called to report to jury duty. Karren will conduct his portion of jury selection Friday. He is using Benton County Circuit Judge Robin Green's courtroom on the third floor of the Benton County Courthouse.
The prospective jurors will be put in groups of 12 and then given times on Aug. 29 and 30 to report to Karren's courtroom. The attorneys will then question them.
Opening statements are scheduled to begin Aug. 31.
Karren told the attorneys at a hearing Friday that several people called his office wanting to be excused from jury selection. He excused seven people. One man, who called in to be excused, told Karren he had changed his plans and no longer had any conflicts with jury service.
Ballett was arrested Dec. 26, 2019.
Ieshia Webster told police she and Ballett stopped dating about six months before the stabbing, but he was still in love with her. Webster said she and Allen were companions, and Ballett didn't like the relationship, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Webster said she and Allen heard Ballett's car outside her apartment, and they later heard a noise in the backyard, according to court documents. Allen went outside and Webster said she then heard a scream, went outside and saw Ballett had a knife and was stabbing Allen, according to the affidavit.
Ballett is being held without bond in the Benton County Jail.