THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 13, 1996 TAG: 9601130338
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: PATRIOT LEDGER NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: DEDHAM, MASS. LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
A judge has refused to move the trial of alleged abortion clinic killer John C. Salvi III.
Norfolk (Mass.) Superior Court Judge Barbara Dortch-Okara rejected defense claims Thursday that Salvi has been prejudiced by pre-trial publicity. Salvi will stand trial in Dedham starting Feb. 5.
``Salvi has not shown that the publicity surrounding the crimes with which he is charged is such that he cannot receive a fair and impartial trial in Norfolk County,'' Dortch-Okara wrote in a four-page opinion.
Dortch-Okara was responding to a motion by defense attorneys J.W. Carney Jr. and Janice Bassil, who argued last month that ``saturation coverage'' by newspapers in Norfolk County, coupled with local television coverage, made it impossible to find an unbiased jury.
Carney and Bassil asked the judge to move the trial to Franklin County, where they said there is only one daily newspaper, which has not extensively covered the case. But the judge said publicity would be just as intense if she granted the motion.
The judge found that coverage by statewide television stations and by large daily newspapers in Pittsfield and Springfield was extensive enough to make no practical difference in impact on the jury pool.
Trial judges have substantial discretion in deciding whether to grant a change of venue. Dortch-Okara said in her opinion that Salvi had to establish ``that his guilt has been so generally and substantially prejudged by the residents of the county that an unbiased tribunal could not be obtained.''
Salvi is charged with two counts of murder and five counts of armed assault with intent to murder for the Dec. 30, 1994, shooting spree at the Preterm Health Services and Planned Parenthood clinics on Beacon Street in Brookline.
Planned Parenthood receptionist Shannon Lowney and Preterm Health Services worker Lee Ann Nichols were killed in the shootings. Five others were wounded.
Salvi was arrested in Norfolk, Va., the next day after allegedly shooting at the Hillcrest Clinic. No one was hurt in that case.
Carney and Bassil will attempt to prove that Salvi, 23, was insane at the time of the fatal shootings.
In a separate ruling Thursday, the state Supreme Judicial Court upheld an earlier ruling by Dortch-Okara rejecting a bid to have a video camera record an examination of Salvi by Dr. Martin Kelly, who was chosen by the prosecution to offer an opinion on Salvi's sanity at trial.
Dortch-Okara has yet to rule on a request by prosecutors John Kivlan and Marianne Hinkle to bar live television coverage of the trial. Carney and Bassil support the request. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS File photo
John Salvi, shown at a court hearing Dec. 15 in Dedham Superior
Court in Dedham, Mass., will stand trial starting Feb. 5 on two
counts of murder and five counts of armed assault with intent to
murder for the Dec. 30, 1994, shooting spree at the Preterm Health
Services and Planned Parenthood clinics in Brookline, Mass.
by CNB