(AP) — It's a familiar story: an unarmed black male killed at the hands of a white law enforcement officer. For many black leaders there, former Officer Stephen Rankin's rare trial on first-degree murder charges, scheduled to start with jury selection Wednesday, will be nothing less than a referendum on a criminal justice system they say often fails to hold police accountable. "The criminal justice system is hell-bent on favoring those in law enforcement," said James Boyd, president of Portsmouth's NAACP chapter. The trial is scheduled at a time of intense scrutiny over police officers' use of force, and both the prosecution and defense expressed concerns about how to maintain an impartial jury. In addition to following numerous incidents of black men dying in police custody, the trial comes in the wake of recent fatal attacks on officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Of those officers arrested, 31 were charged with murder and several, including Rankin, with first-degree murder, he said. [...] far, 24 of the cases against officers have ended in convictions and 24 have not. Recent protests over shootings by police in Louisiana and Minnesota shut down a major highway in Portsmouth, and a white city councilman responded by calling the demonstrators "thugs" on social media.