Judge Tim Chambers took every issue presented by the defense in the case against Billy Craig Jr., under advisement after arguments were made by both sides in Reno County District Court.

Craig is charged for being involved in the murder of Jennifer Heckel on June 14, of last year. He is alleged to have been involved with Charles Christopher Logsdon and went to the home of Heckel and killed her while her young son was in the next room.

Highlighting the hearing Monday was the defense motion seeking a change of venue for the trial. Attorney Greg Bell believes all the media coverage of the case including the recent coverage of co-defendant Charles Christopher Logsdon’s trial would make it impossible for Craig to get a fair trial in Reno County.

Both the publisher of the Hutch News, John Montgomery and Market Manager for Eagle Radio, Mark Trotman took the stand to testify about their coverage of the case. They also provide the defense all of the stories broadcast, printed or posted online before and after Craig and Logsdon were arrested and charged in the case.

But, Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell argues that even though he showed there was a lot of advance publicity, that he needed to show that his client is prejudiced. He called the evidence of media coverage “speculative” on whether potential jurors would be influenced by the coverage couldn’t be fair and open minded.

Judge Tim Chamber asked the state about publicity still to come prior to the trial for Craig scheduled for next month. That includes the sentencing of Logsdon which is scheduled for Friday. Maxwell believes there will be plenty of time between the sentencing of Logsdon and the trial for Craig.

Bell also told the judge of a study he wants to do over advance publicity, but has not been able to get the funding from the state. They say funded for such a study should be paid for by the county since its not a capital murder case. The county has apparently denied the request at least twice. Bell wants the study to be done by two professors with Pittsburg State University hoping to show his theory that Craig could not get a fair trial in this county.

The defense also tried to get the judge to order the state to honor an alleged plea agreement where if Craig cooperated with the state with truthful information on the murder, they would consider granting him community corrections on his other two cases and not charge him in connection with his involvement in the murder of Heckel. They claim that Craig was truthful in interviews he did with law enforcement, but Maxwell got his former attorney to admit that his client at one point claimed he lied about his previous statements and wouldn’t comment anymore.

Craig is also facing a charge of contempt of court when he refused to testify in front of a jury in the Logsdon trial, although it was mentioned in court that no action has been taken on that this far by Judge Trish Rose.

Judge Chambers took all of this under advisement and is expected to issue a written opinion, although he didn’t specify when. He also didn’t set any date in the future for other pre-trial motions to be heard.