A jury was selected Friday for the trial of a man accused in the deaths of five people in a Norfolk bank.

Jury selection took three days and included a 2½-hour delay Friday when 24-year-old Jose Sandoval claimed he was ill and cited substandard conditions of the Hall County Jail in refusing to leave his cell.

Sandoval is charged with five counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of four U.S. Bank employees and a customer on September 26, 2002.

Sandoval, whose trial is set to begin in Hamilton County on Monday, remained in his cell when the selection process resumed shortly after 11 a.m. Friday.

Madison County deputies and jail employees said Sandoval claimed, "I have a disease. I don't want anyone to catch it."

Sandoval threatened to assault a person once a day until he was moved back to the state prison in Tecumseh, said Cpl. George Sherman, who works at the Hall County Jail.

Madison County Public Defender Harry Moore, who is representing Sandoval, said his client wants to be transported to and from Tecumseh every day during the Hall County jury selection and Hamilton County trial.

Attorneys, deputies, the court reporter and Madison County District Judge Patrick Rogers went to Sandoval's cell this morning to inform him of his rights to be present at the jury selection.

Sandoval did not respond, and Rogers ordered the proceedings to continue.

Sandoval is one of four men accused in the bank killings. The trial was moved from Madison County at the request of the defense attorney.

If convicted, Sandoval faces life in prison or death in the electric chair. Jurors would not sentence Sandoval, but they could be asked to make a sentencing recommendation to a panel of three judges.

Jorge Galindo and Gabriel Rodriguez are awaiting trial on five counts of first-degree murder each in the case.

Erick Vela pleaded guilty to the five murder counts and awaits sentencing.