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An Alameda County Superior Court judge has ordered a quick turnaround in the Beretta unsafe pistol lawsuit, with jury selection in a new trial to begin in Oakland this week. 

The suit by the family of Kenzo Dix against the Maryland gunmaker ended in a hung jury late last December. A jury ruled in favor of Beretta five years ago in the same case, but that verdict was thrown out by a California Appeals Court. 

The lawsuit stems from the accidental Berkeley shooting death of the 15-year-old Dix by his then-14-year-old friend Michael Soe. Dix’ parents have claimed that the shooting resulted in part from a defective safety design of a Beretta pistol. 

—J. Douglas Allen-Taylor