Former white police chief on trial for killing black man

ORANGEBURG, S.C. - Jury selection is getting underway in the trial of a white former police chief charged with murder in the 2011 shooting death of an unarmed black man.

Selection begins in Orangeburg on Tuesday. The defense attorney for Richard Combs has asked Judge Edgar Dixon to move the trial, saying publicity has made it impossible for his client to get a fair hearing locally.

The judge is expected to rule after potential jurors are questioned about how much they have heard about the case.

Combs is the former chief of Eutawville and faces 30 years to life if convicted in the death of Bernard Bailey.

When Combs was indicted last month, the case drew comparisons to the deaths of blacks at the hands of police in Ferguson, Missouri and New York.