Elvin EJ Tisdale enters the Columbiana County Common Pleas courtroom on the first day of his jury trial for aggravated murder in the 2021 shooting death of 20-year-old Brycen Douglas. Opening statements are expected this morning. (Photo by Mary Ann Greier)

LISBON — Opening statements will begin this morning in the aggravated murder trial for Elvin EJ Tisdale, the man accused of shooting 20-year-old Brycen Douglas to death in East Liverpool in 2021.

The trial started Tuesday with jury selection, which took all morning. By 12:30 p.m., the slate of 12 jurors plus two alternates was set and the jurors heard instructions and admonitions from Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton.

After breaking for lunch for an hour, the jury consisting of seven women and five men, along with one man and one woman as alternates, boarded a bus for an afternoon road trip to East Liverpool to view the area where the shooting took place. When they returned, Bickerton decided to end the proceedings for the day.

Elvin Tisdale, 35, Newell, W.Va., and his cousin, Allen Tisdale, 25, Lisbon, were indicted together in 2023, with each of them charged with aggravated murder, murder and firearm specifications for allegedly killing Douglas, who was found shot to death on the front porch of a Pennsylvania Avenue home on July 15, 2021.

Elvin was also charged with having weapons while under disability due to being prohibited from having or using a gun due to a previous felony conviction.

Allen recently pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter and complicity for a weapons charge. As part of the plea agreement, he’s required to “provide complete and truthful information and testimony on behalf of the state in the continuing investigation of the death of Brycen Douglas and prosecution of any and all persons involved including but not limited to Elvin EJ Tisdale.”

He’s scheduled to testify this week in the case against EJ.

Allen Tisdale is scheduled to face sentencing at 9:20 a.m. July 21.

Elvin EJ Tisdale was accompanied by his defense attorneys, Paul Conn and Coleen Hall Dailey, and was in the custody of two deputies from the county sheriff’s office. The prosecution was represented by county Assistant Prosecutors Tammie Riley Jones, Steve Yacovone and Christopher Weeda.

Family members for both the defendant and the victim were present in the courtroom once the jury returned. The trial is expected to last the rest of the week.

Allen Tisdale is being housed at the Mahoning County jail while Elvin EJ Tisdale is being housed in the Columbiana County jail, both under $1 million cash or surety bonds.