DENVER -- Jury selection has begun for the first of two federal prison inmates accused of killing their cellmate and using his internal organs to taunt guards and warn other inmates against talking to investigators.

William Sablan, 42, is charged with first-degree murder in the Oct. 10, 1999, salying of Joey Jesus Estrella, 33, in their cell at the federal penitentiary in Florence, Colo.

His cousin and cellmate, Rudy Sablan, also faces a first-degree murder charge in the same case. His trial date was not immediately available.

The Sablans are the first federal defendants in Colorado to face the death penalty since Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in 1997.

The Sablans and Estrella were smoking, playing cards and drinking homemade wine before a fight broke out the night of the killing, other inmates have testified.

An autopsy showed Estrella bled to death from having his throat slit, and that he was gutted in the attack. Authorities have said they believe he was cut with a prison-issue razor blade which was then flushed down a toilet.

The letter "S" was written in blood on the cell wall, investigators said. The aftermath of the attack was videotaped by security guards as they waited for additional backup before entering the cell and handcuffing the two brothers.

The crime occurred while the three were in the special housing unit at the maximum-security prison.

William Sablan, a native of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, has a criminal history dating to 1984 that includes convictions for holding a couple at knifepoint, attacking two men on a golf course and attempting to strangle a shop owner with a telephone cord. While in prison for the golf-course attack, he and other inmates "took over" the prison, holding a group of Chinese inmates hostage, according to court filings.

Sablan's attorneys have said in court filings they will pursue an insanity defense.

Jury selection is expected to take up to two weeks before U.S. District Judge Wiley Daniel. The trial is scheduled to last four months.