Judge Tim Chamber took the major motion of whether to grant a defense request for a change of venue in the case against Billy Craig Jr.

He’s charged with first degree murder for the killing of Jennifer Heckel in the summer of 2011.

The defense want the change of venue to move the trial out of county because of advance publicity. They recently 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.

One of the professors from Pittsburg State University took the stand and talked of the survey. Dr. Shirley Drew says she believes the survey shows that the case should be moved out of county.

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. Maxwell tried to get her to admit that the survey would be faulty because of that. She wouldn’t do that, saying she believes the survey is still accurate regardless.

Maxwell also questioned the results based who was called mostly older people and doesn’t reflect that most people under 50 have cell phones, and not land lines.

Judge Chambers also took under advisement whether to suppress statements made by Craig during various taped interviews with law enforcement over the killing, some prior to him even being charged in the case. Both sides wanting to show video or play audio of those interviews, but Judge Tim Chambers indicated he would review all the items in chambers before making any rulings, so they didn’t show much of the video into evidence.

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.

Craig is also facing a charge of contempt of court when he refused to testify in the Logsdon trial. He also has a drug case and a computer crimes case pending.

When Judge issues a ruling we’ll let you know.