Ashanti's Longtime Stalker On Trial For A Third Time

Third time a charm?

Ashanti superfan Devar Hurd, 37, is about to stand trial a third time on charges he stalked the R&B singer.

Jury selection in Hurd’s 2013 case started Monday morning in Manhattan Supreme Court.

He was tried before on the current charges twice — the first ending in a mistrial because a juror grew ill during deliberations.

In October, at a second trial, Hurd was convicted of criminal contempt and related counts but the 12-member panel could not agree on the top count — felony stalking.

Prosecutors say he has been harassing Ashanti Douglas and her family for years.

Evidence shows he had sent numerous raunchy and sexually explicit tweets aimed at Ashanti. He claims to have met her in 2003 and to have had a romantic relationship with her, which the star vehemently denies.

In spite of an order of protection, he deliberately went to events where her younger sister Kenashia Douglas was present.

He even took a photograph with her when she did not know what he looked like.

She testified she didn’t realize he had been that close to her until another fan identified him as Ashanti’s stalker on Twitter.

Ashanti, who previously testified twice against Hurd, will have to take the witness stand yet again.

“I’m really nervous and scared of exactly what he’s capable of doing to myself and my family,” she testified in October.

Hurd was convicted in 2009 of stalking and harassing the star and her family. In that case, he sent photos of his erect penis to her mother and manager, Tina Douglas. The images were meant to get to Ashanti.

In jury selection Monday, prosecutor Carolina Holderness asked prospects for their assurances that they could be fair.

“She is in some worlds a celebrity,” Holderness said. “Is there anyone here who thinks that because she’s a celebrity, she has sort of put herself and her life out into the public realm and therefore she’s not entitled to the same protection under the law as you or I would be?”

Several of the jurors agreed that Ashanti has the same rights as others.

She also warned the panel that the evidence they’d see would not be for the faint of heart.

There are “some rather sexually graphic messages,” she said. “Things you don’t expect to hear in a court of law or maybe anywhere else.”

Hurd, who is acting as his own lawyer, gave the room a taste of his nonchalant style.

“How’s everybody doing? Ya’ll good?” he began.

He also bragged to them that he’s representing himself partly because “I’m a certified paralegal, I’ve been studying law.”

He faces up to four years behind bars. He has rejected a plea offer that would have required him to admit full guilt and would have gotten him time served.

Ashanti will have a mf sprung …….

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