Daughter Testifies In Murder Trial Of Former Tulsa Police Officer Shannon Kepler

Jury selection has been completed in the murder trial of former Tulsa Police Officer Shannon Kepler.

Kepler is standing trial in the 2014 death of Jeremey Lake. Lake, 19, had been dating Kepler's adopted daughter for a short time before his shooting death.

The adopted daughter, Lisa Kepler, took the stand in the first day of testimony. Court was recessed briefly when she became too upset to continue.

Testimony began Thursday in the murder trial of Shannon Kepler, the now retired Tulsa Police officer accusing of killing his daughter's boyfriend.

But the star witness' testimony is in doubt.

The key witness is Lisa Kepler, who saw and heard the shooting and identified her father as the killer.  

But in two times trying on the stand, she couldn't get words out, didn't say anything clearly in front of the jury and eventually was skipped over so the trial could continue.

Shannon Kepler's most direct accuser is his own daughter, but her inability to testify so far means prosecutors have more work to do.  

Kepler's attorney Richard O'Carroll admitted his client fired two shots at Lake but claimed it was self defense in a confrontation over his daughter.

"Shannon Kepler did what he had to do in a very dangerous situation," O'Carroll said. 

Earlier in the day, the jury was picked, but the DA accused the defense of screening out black jurors and the judge appeared to agree.

District Attorney Steven Kunzweiler said there was "a pattern to strike African Americans from the panel," and when the jury and alternates were finalized, only one African American was among them.

Kepler, the former police officer, is white, and the victim, Jeremey Lake was mixed race.

During juror selection, Judge Sharon Holmes said "the court does see a pattern where people, African Americans, are being struck," but allowed it anyway.

The biggest question now though, may not be what happens with the jury, but what happens if the star witness can't calm down enough to testify.

10/31/2016 Related Story: Jury Selection Begins In Murder Trial Of Former Tulsa Police Officer

After both sides narrowed down the jurors, the resulting panel included one African American in the 12 jurors and two alternates.