Jury Search Starts in Stepfather's Murder Case

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Jury selection is under way for the murder trial of a Buffalo security guard charged with beating his 10-year-old stepson to death in the family's basement.

Ali-Mohamad Mohamud has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the April death of Abdifatah Mohamud.

Jury selection got under way Thursday in state Supreme Court in Buffalo.

Abdifatah was found bound and gagged in the family's basement by police investigating another family member's call about a missing child. The stepfather was arrested within an hour at The Buffalo News, where he worked as a guard for a company that provides building security.

Prosecutors have said Mohamud acknowledged to police that he bound the child's hands, put a sock in his mouth, covered it with duct tape and beat him.