By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — Jury selection began Monday in the trial of a convicted felon who admitted to watching a blockbuster horror flick after strangling a 19-year-old student he sold drugs to.
Jeromie Cancel, 24, said in a video confession that he beat and strangled Kevin Pravia, who was a student at Pace, in the young man's Chelsea bedroom in August of 2008.
Pravia brought Cancel back to his apartment where he had enough cash to buy $100 worth of cocaine, according to Cancel's videotaped admissions. Cancel then killed him, and with the victim's body only feet away from him, relaxed and watched a DVD of "Saw," a film about a deranged serial killer, he said in the video.
Cancel made a lengthy confession on video to prosecutors after his Sept. 2, 2008 arrest.
The confession will be admissible at trial along with other statements made to law enforcement, a Manhattan judge indicated Monday.
No jurors were selected for the panel yet. Jury selection will resume Wednesday following Tuesday's Election Day court closure.