Although Judge Tim Chamber believes it may be difficult to find an impartial jury in the case against Billy Craig Jr., he doesn’t believe it to be “impossible” at this time. That is the standard for deciding if a defendant should be granted a change of venue. However, he says that could change once they begin the process of selecting a jury
A jury panel will be called to the Reno County Courthouse on October 18 to fill out questionnaires. Then the attorney’s and judge will meet the following Monday to review those questionnaires and see if an impartial jury can be selected. The trial is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, October 22.
Judge Chambers says if a fair and impartial jury can be found, the murder trial will be held here. If not, then he would grant the change of venue at that time.
The defense want the change of venue to move the trial out of county because of advance publicity. Earlier this year, they presented the court the results of a survey that show that 80.6 of the around 345 people surveyed new about the case and thought Craig was probably guilty of being involved in the killing of Jennifer Heckel.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell attacked the survey saying its faulty because of the number of people called. Around 345 responded to the survey based on what Maxwell called an inaccurate count of those who live in the county. The professor says she was under the impression that there are 15-thousand people who live in Reno County and was surprised to learn that the actual population of the county is over 64-thousand.
Judge Chambers also took under advisement whether to suppress statements made by Craig during various taped interviews with law enforcement over the killings. He told us, rulings on other motions will come later.
Craig is charged with murder and other crimes associated with the killing of Jennifer Heckel on June 14, 2011. He along with Charles Christopher Logsdon allegedly went to the home of Heckel and killed her while her young son was in the next room listening.
For now anyway, the change of venue for Billy Craig Jr., is denied.