Jury to be picked for trial over slaying of Noble Savage owner

SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - Two years and five months since an owner of a downtown Shreveport restaurant owner was found slain in her home, jury selection is set to begin in the trial of her accused killer.

The proceedings against 60-year-old Mark Edward "Chef" Colby are scheduled to start Monday in Caddo District Court in Shreveport.

The Shreveport man has been in Caddo Correctional Center since being booked Sept. 17, 2014, on a charge of second-degree murder. His bond is $5 million.

Colby is accused of fatally shooting 58-year-old Angela Godley, his girlfriend and longtime partner in Noble Savage Tavern, in their home in Shreveport's Shreve Island neighborhood Sept. 10, 2014.

A week later, he was arrested in Del Rio, Texas, and returned to Shreveport.

His arrest on the murder charge marked the sixth time in a dozen years he had been booked into Caddo Correctional.

Previously, he had been booked in on 2 counts each of first-offense DWI and driving on a roadway laned for traffic and one count each of third-offense DWI, cruelty to animals, illegal use of a weapon and refusing a chemical test, booking record show.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys must choose a dozen jurors for the murder trial; two alternates usually are selected as well. About a third of the jury was chosen in just four hours, according to a news release.

Selection ended at 6:30 p.m. on Monday with one man and three women chosen. Eight people remain and two more will be selected as alternates.

The Caddo district attorney's office says the jury will not be sequestered.

Colby has pleaded not guilty.

He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence if he is convicted of second-degree murder.

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