Defense will seek to move Sierra LaMar murder trial - SFGate
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In a brief filed in September seeking to dismiss the murder indictment, however, co-counsel Brian Matthews
[Defense will seek to move Sierra LaMar murder trial - SFGate
http://m.sfgate.com/crime/article/Defense-will-seek-to-move-Sierra-LaMar-murder-7350955.php]
said the grand jury had been operating in an emotional environment.
“Sierra’s disappearance has been a highly publicized event,” Matthews wrote. “Until recently, searchers combed the South County area looking for her with many wearing shirts claiming her as ‘everyone’s daughter.’ It is the type of crime that causes people to feel insecure in their homes and gives them pause about whether to allow their children to walk or take the bus to school. And when charges of capital murder are added to the mix, the case gives rise to very strong emotions.”
Prosecutors are likely to oppose any attempt to move the trial. A change of venue can be costly for both sides, given the travel and housing costs for attorneys and witnesses.
Change-of-venue motions are not common, and judges granting them even less so. Notable California trials that saw successful venue changes in recent years included those against Scott Peterson, convicted of murdering his wife and their unborn child, and former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle, convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant.
http://m.sfgate.com/crime/article/Defense-will-seek-to-move-Sierra-LaMar-murder-7350955.php
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