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UPDATE: Judge denies motion for mistrial in Elijah James case

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UPDATE (March 26, 2013 - 9:55 A.M.)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) -- A judge has denied a motion for a mistrial in the Elijah James trial.

James is facing the death penalty for the 2010 presumed murder of his ex-girlfriend Danielle Brown.

The jury was selected Monday. This morning defense attorneys for James motioned for a mistrial asking the judge that a jury selection be done again. Attorney Clyde Taylor says the prosecution was trying to strike black jurors off the panel. James is black and Danielle Brown was white.

A judge denied the motion.

WTXL's Brittany Jones is in the courtroom and will have updates throughout the day on WTXL.tv and on air on WTXL-ABC27.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A judge and attorneys are interviewing jurors to decide the fate of a Tallahassee man accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend.

They began the selection Monday morning from a pool of fifty people. Fifty more people are expected to be interviewed Monday afternoon. 

The defendant, Elijah James, is accused of killing his girlfriend, Danielle Brown, in February 2010. He's also charged with stealing more than $300 and Brown's car.

Investigators have been searching across Georgia and Florida for Brown's body, but she was never found.  However, her car was found burned in a city dump in south Georgia. 

James is currently serving a 20 year sentence for the arson of Brown's car. If convicted, he faces the death penalty. This case marks the first time in Leon County that a person is facing the death penalty without investigators recovering a body.

The judge presiding over the case says that he expects the trial to be over within two weeks.