Opening Statements Given In Stanley Majors' Tulsa Murder Trial

<p>Witnesses are being called in the trial of Stanley Majors - the man charged with killing in his neighbor in what the victim's family says was a hate crime.</p>

Monday, January 29th 2018, 5:09 am

By: Joseph Holloway

Opening Statements Given In Stanley Majors' Tulsa Murder Trial

Witnesses are being called in the trial of Stanley Majors - the man charged with killing in his neighbor in what the victim's family says was a hate crime.

The state has called several witnesses so far, including 911 operators and a nurse who believes she heard Khalid Jabara being attacked.

Opening statements started a little after 10:00 Monday morning and the state told the jury Majors threatened to kill Jabara's family because of their ethnicity.

The assistant district attorney also says Majors was arrested for hitting one of Jabara's relatives with a car.

Jabara's family says Majors harassed them for years because they're Lebanese Americans.

The assistant district attorney says Majors hated Khalid Jabara because Jabara was friends with Majors' husband and that could've motivated him to kill his own neighbor in August 2016.

The defense attorney told the jury that Majors was diagnosed with schizophrenia and that mental illness made him think the Jabara family was targeting him for being gay.

Majors was charged with first-degree murder, malicious intimidation or harassment and threatening an act of violence.

He's pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Jury selection started on January 22nd and the jurors were seated on Friday, January 26th.

Knowing that a lot of attention is expected for this case, the DA's office says the jurors were ordered not to listen, read or watch any type of information related to this case.

The DA's office says the trial should last about two weeks.