Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Trial Denied Change Of Venue
KENTUCKY....
Monday, U.S. District Judge Karl Forester told defense lawyers and prosecutors the bid-tampering trial scheduled to begin January 11th for Leonard Lawson, former Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert and Brian Billings, a Lawson employee, will remain in Lexington. Defense lawyers argued there was too much pre-trial publicity in Lexington and that a possible jury pool would be tainted by the substantial media coverage. They argued the case should be transferred to Covington, where there has been less media coverage. However, Forester said defense lawyers and prosecutors could weed out potential jurors who had read or heard about the case, saying, "Defendants are not going to be able to avoid media publicity of this case by transferring venue."
Monday, U.S. District Judge Karl Forester told defense lawyers and prosecutors the bid-tampering trial scheduled to begin January 11th for Leonard Lawson, former Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert and Brian Billings, a Lawson employee, will remain in Lexington. Defense lawyers argued there was too much pre-trial publicity in Lexington and that a possible jury pool would be tainted by the substantial media coverage. They argued the case should be transferred to Covington, where there has been less media coverage. However, Forester said defense lawyers and prosecutors could weed out potential jurors who had read or heard about the case, saying, "Defendants are not going to be able to avoid media publicity of this case by transferring venue."
# posted by Homer Owens @ 7:31 AM 
