Jury Selection Begins For Woman Accused Of Killing Miami Cop

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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - Jury selection got underway Monday for a woman accused of killing her live-in boyfriend who was also a Miami police officer.

Tiniko Thompson is charged with second degree murder in the death of Officer Carl Patrick. He was found dead in their Pembroke Pines home in May 2014.

In previous court testimony, Thompson said she shot Patrick in self defense.

Thompson said on the day of the shooting, May 7, 2014, her then boyfriend was already in his police uniform and ready to go to work when she woke up when an argument between the couple escalated.

Investigators say Patrick believed Thompson was pregnant when she moved into his Pembroke Pines home the summer of 2013. They believe the fight came after Thompson told him the truth, that she really wasn't pregnant, and he wanted her out of his house. Another contributing factor to the fight, according to police, was that Thompson had maxed out the couple's credit cards.

Thompson has previously gone on record as saying the day of the shooting they had a violent argument in which he hit her and threatened her with a gun.

"We kept struggling and and we both ended up going on the side of the bed. At that time, I still held on to the gun and I was able to move and he kept turning the gun towards me and I turned the gun towards him. At that time, he slipped. His left foot slipped. His hand went up off the gun and I held on to the gun and I fired a shot," she testified in April 2015. "I felt that my life was in jeopardy."

The prosecution has said that Thompson version of the self defense shooting didn't add up because medical evidence of the trajectory of the bullet contradicts what she told the court.

"There's a loaded gun right next to the man who's allegedly trying to murder her. But she's going to take the time to stamp out smoldering sage, and then step over him and then she goes three feet away to the bathroom and stands in the bathroom, washes her hands, changes her clothes while this man is laying there" said Shari Tate.

The Medical Examiner said Patrick's injury would have been survivable had medical assistance been obtained.

Police say Thompson left the home and took Patrick's cell phone with her -- depriving him of the opportunity to call for help. Investigators say Patrick's body was wrapped in a comforter while he was in police uniform and that he was still alive. The report also says that "there were burn marks found on the bedding that covered him that were consistent with something being lit on fire and then placed on top of the body."

The trial, which begins Tuesday, could last up to two weeks.

Thompson could face life is convicted.