A Mt. Vernon teenager, who just dismissed his attorney days before his scheduled murder trial, has had a change of heart. 19-year-old Roderick Oats Jr. is facing 3 felony counts of 1st degree murder, in connection to the July 2017 shooting death of Carlos Johnson. Last week, Oats fired his court-appointed attorney and was attempting to proceeds his pro se to jury trial, which was scheduled to begin today. At his final pre-trial hearing last week, a defense motion to continue the jury trial was denied and the judge instead confirmed for his jury selection to start this morning. The following day, Oats filed a motion to fire his public defender and requested on proceeding with the trial as his own counsel, which the judge granted. On Monday, Oats appeared in court and requested the court again to appoint an attorney for him. The court elected to appoint the same attorney to represent Oats, this time with a continuance on the trial. The case is now pushed backed to a May 9th status hearing. Oats has been at the Jefferson County jail, since his July arrest, with bail at $300,000. Prior to his change of heart on Monday, Oats had been given all the items that were discovered in his murder case, along with the contact information from the private investigator. The court had allowed Oats to have one hour of phone privileges and access a computer to watch any and all dds that are in discovery. Oats’ jury trial was just one of 2 Jefferson County jury trials that were scheduled for today, with the pro se defense. Rodney Moore of Mt. Vernon is also facing a Class 2 felony, for being in possession with a firearm with a prior conviction and a Class 3 felony for possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number. Moore was arrested back in August 2017 and had been representing himself since early in the case. His trial had also been confirmed to being with a jury selection today.