A jury is expected to be seated and opening arguments get underway today in Gwinnett County’s first death penalty trial since 2005.

Richard Ringold is accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend, Atania Butler, her 11-year-old daughter, and two others at Butler’s Lawrenceville home in 2009. Her then 4-year-old daughter survived a gunshot wound and is expected to testify against Ringold.

Jury selection has taken three weeks, much longer than the district attorney’s office had expected.

“The lawyers and courts want to make sure that jurors will vote for the death penalty if a proper case for it is presented, and on the other hand, will not automatically vote against it,” says WSB legal analyst and UGA professor Ron Carlson.

Ringold has pleaded not guilty saying he was playing video games with friends at the time of the murders.

Another woman who escaped the house before being shot is also expected to testify at the trial.