JEFFERSON COUNTY — A jury trial next week against a 30-year-old Mt. Vernon man charged with sexual assault will start with the unusual step of selecting jurors in a setting at the Rolland-Lewis building rather than in the courthouse.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the selection of a jury in the case against Theodore Jefferson was moved off-site and is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. September 15.

Jefferson is charged with Class 1 felony sexual assault by force and Class 4 felony unlawful restraint.

He will first be tried on those charges and will later be tried in an unrelated case accusing of a June stabbing in the 1000 block of South 26th in Mt. Vernon.

The sexual assault case was filed against Jefferson in April 2019, and he was released from the Jefferson County Jail after posting $6,000 cash bond.

He was free on bond in the sexual assault case when he was arrested in connection with the stabbing case and subsequently charged with Class X felony armed violence, Class 2 felonies for being a felon in possession of a firearm, and aggravated domestic battery, along with Class 3 aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Jefferson remains in the county jail.