Trial looms for 2 men charged in Chinese student’s slaying

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Jury selection has begun in the trial of two men charged with killing a Syracuse University student from China during a drug deal robbery last year.

The Post-Standard reports (http://bit.ly/2uhKIuz ) the selection process began Monday in a Syracuse courtroom, where 24-year-old Cameron Isaac and 20-year-old Ninimbe Mitchell face second-degree murder and other charges in the shooting of Yuan Xiaopeng (YOO’-en SHE’-ow-puhng).

Prosecutors say the 23-year-old student from Qingdao (cheeng-DOW’), on China’s east coast, was killed during a drug deal being transacted at an apartment complex in suburban DeWitt last Sept. 30.

Yuan was a junior studying mathematics at Syracuse when he was killed.

Authorities say Isaac gunned down Yuan while Mitchell was there to serve as the getaway driver.

Isaac and Mitchell are being tried before the same jury.

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Information from: The Post-Standard, http://www.syracuse.com