Caesar Goodson's murder trial is scheduled to begin today. He is the only Baltimore officer of the six charged in Freddie Gray's death in April 2015 to face murder charges. Goodson was the driver of the van that transported Gray. It was during the ride that Gray, unrestrained in the back of the van, suffered a fatal spinal injury.

Fran Norton is a Star News reporter in Wilmington, NC who is covering some interesting murder cases.

Jury selection is set to begin today in the rape trial of former Vanderbilt University student, Brandon Vandenburg. Co-defendant Corey Batey was convicted of rape in April 2016; his sentencing is scheduled for July 15, 2016. (He faces 15 to 25 years on the most serious charge.) Batey, Vandenburg, along were two other former students still awaiting trial, were accused of sexually assaulting an unconscious female student on June 23, 2013, and video recording the assault. A jury is being selected in Memphis.

Oscar Pistorius lost his right to appeal a murder conviction last month. He faces sentencing this week. The court set aside the entire week for the sentencing hearing. At his trial in 2014 for the 2013 shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, the judge convicted him of a lower version of homicide called culpable homicide and sentenced him to 5 years in prison. The prosecution appealed. The higher court found the trial court's reasoning was flawed in finding that Pistorius was merely negligent; the verdict was enhanced to murder. Pistorius could be sentenced to 15 years.