GREENEVILLE, TENN. — Jury selection is expected to begin Monday in Greeneville, Tennessee, for Jordan Allen, who faces two counts of first-degree murder in the April 2022 deaths of his younger brother and his grandmother. Fourteen prospective jurors have been excused so far.

Criminal Court Judge John Dugger said the trial could go on for days, providing no estimate for how long it will take. Allen was 16 years old when he was charged. Deputies detained him at a residence on Old Snapps Ferry Road after responding to a call there on April 25, 2022.

According to a juvenile petition, Detective Jeff Davis said Allen admitted to killing his 7-year-old brother, Jessie Allen, and his 59-year-old grandmother, Sherry Cole, by hitting them in the head with a hammer. "He stated he began planning to kill the victim(s) earlier the same afternoon," Davis said in the petition.

The autopsy report said both victims had injuries on their head and puncture wounds on the back of their neck. The murders occurred at the grandmother's residence on Old Snapps Ferry Road, where Allen had been living after his father dropped him off there three or four years before the killings and never returned.

In November 2022, Greene County Juvenile Court Judge Kenneth Bailey Jr. determined that Allen would be tried as an adult. Bailey found that Allen was not committable to an institution and that it was in the community's best interests for the case to be moved to adult status.

Court filings also noted that Allen's mother had been an inmate for several years at the time of the killings. Records state that Allen left his home several times in late 2021 and early 2022. The state Department of Children's Services had worked with Allen and his family in a program on de-escalation techniques and coping skills.