
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 3, 1990                   TAG: 9004030408
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN 
SOURCE: By  Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HICKS MURDER TRIAL MOVED

RUSTBURG - The capital murder trial of James Ira Hicks, accused of hiring a man to kill his wife, will be moved 112 miles east to the city of Colonial Heights, a Campbell County circuit judge ruled Monday.

Judge J. Samuel Johnston Jr. explained his reasons for moving the trial - rather than bringing a jury in from another county - in a three-page letter to Hicks' attorneys and Commonwealth's Attorney Neil S. Vener dated Monday.

Johnston said extensive media coverage and widespread rumors since Hicks' Jan. 16 arrest made it impossible to find an impartial jury in Campbell County.

Bringing 12 jurors and two alternates to Rustburg also would involve enormous costs, Johnston wrote.

The trial is scheduled to begin July 16.

Hicks has been charged with hiring a 29-year-old Lynchburg carpenter to beat his wife to death with a hammer Jan. 8.

Reuben Gregory Barksdale told investigators he killed Hicks' wife, Lena, for $900.

Hicks and Barksdale are being held in the Campbell County Jail without bond. Both face the death penalty if convicted.

by CNB