Pike Co. massacre hearing today in case against George "Billy" Wagner - oral arguments set on defense request to move venue out of county because of publicity surrounding trial of son George last fall.
Just brought Billy Wagner in - so about to get started. Again, visiting judge R. Alan Corbin is presiding since current Pike Co. judge is Rob Junk, the former prosecutor who helped convict George Wagner IV
Judge Corbin says probably not issuing decision from bench - wants to issue a written decision that should come very timely.
Now have a trial date of May 6 as well per the judge and defense lawyer Marc Collins.
Tentatively scheduled for 8 weeks - the trial for Wagner's son George IV took nearly 12.
Kaitlyn Stephens handling argument for defense: Says this is the rare limited case that meets U.S. Supreme Court exception to move before voire dire is tried. Says presumed prejudice can be found
Stephens: Needs to look not just at quantity of pretrial publicity but quality. Says everything out so far blatantly prejudicial - talking about prosecutors saying "we've got one more to go" and calling Billy Wagner "an evil monster”
Now moving on to size of community argument - only 17,000 registered voters in Pike Co. Says Columbus Crew stadium is bigger than that.
Only 300 responded to summons for jury duty v. 1000 sent out for the Wagner trial. Stephens motions to the media in the courtroom and refers to the media room packed downstairs.
Closes by saying US Supreme Court case is much more recent (2010) v. what the prosecution cites from 1972
Now special prosecutor Angela Canepa points out that US court case was the Enron case, and presumed prejudice was not found.
Canepa: Many of the comments defense referred to were made 6 years ago ... and crimes occurred seven years ago. Also says Billy's defense lawyers routinely talk to the press.
Only tapped about 1 percent of registered voters in last trial per Canepa. Also points out neither Jake or Angela Wagner's testimony was televised or streamed live.
Canepa: the court can take mitigating steps to handle the concern ... also pointed out voire dire took 12 days v. just a few hours or days for George IV.
Court stops for a second for nationwide alert. Then Canepa points out that court able to seat a jury in previous trial.
Canepa: Lots of pretrial publicity does not necessarily mean prejudice by potential jurors.
Canepa not opposed to renew motion after jury selection starts if there are problems ... but standard has not been met yet.
Stephens rebuttal: Passage of time is not a factor like Canepa says it should be. And size of county for Pike is much different than Enron case in US Supreme Court precedent.
Also states even without TV coverage, Jake and Angela testimony still reported out from courtroom. Also, there has now been a trial and comparing to this situation.
Marc Collins defends his statements to the media in previous hearings as procedural and not fact based.
Judge Corbin says he heard a few more issues in court - and will issue a written statement soon. And we're done.
