Jury selection is expected to begin today for a Dorchester man charged with stabbing an acquaintance to death at a Holiday Street cookout two summers ago.

RICHARD PARRIS (D.O.B. 4/12/69) is charged with first-degree murder for the homicide of 27-year-old Sheldon Andrews on the evening of Aug. 27, 2008. Parris was apprehended in Kingston, Jamaica, on Sept. 5 of that year after Boston Police, Suffolk prosecutors, and U.S. Marshals learned he was en route to the island nation and expected to connect with a flight to Barbados.

Andrews was socializing with friends at an outdoor barbecue in the back yard of a Holiday Street address on the night he was killed. Shortly before 7:00 p.m., prosecutors say, Parris arrived in his vehicle.

Upon his arrival, Parris and Andrews became engaged in a verbal altercation that escalated when Parris allegedly drew a knife and stabbed the victim six times, including in the chest. Parris allegedly fled the scene in a motor vehicle; Andrews stumbled to Geneva Avenue, where he fell to the ground. He was transported to Boston Medical Center for surgery but died of his injuries.

Assistant District Attorney Edward Krippendorf will try the case. Parris is represented by attorney Frances Robinson. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Christine McEvoy will oversee the proceedings in courtroom 808. Catherine Yuan is the district attorney’s victim-witness advocate on the case.