By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – Charges against a 29-year-old Alabaster man who is facing allegations he tried to shoot and kill a victim on two separate occasions in 2014 are headed to a jury trial, according to Shelby County Circuit Court records.

In early February, Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves placed a pair of attempted murder charges against Jamel Kentrae Hall on the court’s general call docket, where it will await the next available trial cycle. In 2015, Reeves granted Hall’s request for a speedy trial.

Hall, who lists an address on Fifth Avenue Southeast in Alabaster, entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect to two attempted murder charges on Nov. 10, 2015.

A Shelby County grand jury during its October session returned a three-count indictment against Hall. The indictment upheld two felony charges of attempted murder and one misdemeanor count of unlawful possession of a firearm.

The Alabaster Police Department, with the help of the U.S. Marshals Service, arrested Hall at his Alabaster residence at about 11:45 a.m. on June 10, 2014, and charged him with the two felony counts of attempted murder.

At the time of the arrest, Alabaster Police Chief Curtis Rigney said Hall was “on the run” from police after he heard officers were looking for him, and said the U.S. Marshals Service was “instrumental” in locating the suspect.

Hall allegedly shot and seriously injured a male victim while the victim was driving a vehicle on May 31, 2014, Rigney said. The suspect knew the victim in the case, Rigney said. The victim did not suffer life-threatening injuries in the shooting.

According to Hall’s arrest warrant, the victim was shot twice in the thigh during the May 31, 2014, incident. On June 6, Hall allegedly “shot at the victim while (the victim) was driving an automobile,” which led to Hall’s second attempted murder charge.

During both incidents, Hall allegedly “attempt(ed) to intentionally cause the death” of the victim by shooting him with a .25-caliber handgun, which Hall did not legally have the right to possess.