Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Decision on moving Morva trial due next month
The judge seemed determined to start the capital murder trial as scheduled on Sept. 17.
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CHRISTIANSBURG -- A judge will decide next month whether William Morva's trial will be held in Montgomery County, where Morva is accused of killing a well-known sheriff's deputy and a hospital security guard, or moved elsewhere.
But Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs seemed adamant at a hearing Monday that Morva's jury trial begin as scheduled on Sept. 17.
At a motions hearing in Montgomery County Circuit Court, two of Morva's defense attorneys argued that if there ever was a case that qualified for change of venue, it is Morva's.
The 25-year-old Blacksburg man is charged with three counts of capital murder in the deaths of two men, Cpl. Eric Sutphin of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and Derrick McFarland, a security guard at Montgomery Regional Hospital.
He faces a third count of capital murder because he is charged with killing more than one person in less than three years.
At Monday's hearing, defense attorney Tom Blaylock handed Grubbs an inch-thick three-ring binder full of Roanoke Times articles, a stack of Montgomery County News Messenger articles and several DVDs of television footage. The items, he said, chronicle Morva's Aug. 20 escape from custody, the manhunt for him that shut down Virginia Tech's campus on the first day of school, and the killings of and memorial services for Sutphin and McFarland.
They also include coverage of a March jury trial in which Morva was convicted in several attempted robberies, for which he was later sentenced to 38 years in prison.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg of what the publicity's been in this case," Blaylock said.
Also, Blaylock noted, the manhunt for Morva was mentioned often in early news coverage of the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech.
"Rightly or wrongly," he said, "Mr. Morva has been associated with the Tech tragedy."
It would be nearly impossible, he said, to seat an impartial jury in Montgomery County.
After all the community has been through in the past year, defense attorney Tony Anderson said, it may be somewhat relieved not to have to endure a lengthy capital murder trial.
Commonwealth's Attorney Brad Finch objected to the change of venue request, saying potential jurors don't need to be ignorant of a case. Even people who have formed an opinion about a case can serve as jurors if they're able to set aside their opinions, he said.
Grubbs said the issue needs to be resolved in a timely manner and set an Aug. 1 court date for another hearing. He'll rule on the change of venue request then.
Also at Monday's hearing, which began more than two hours later than scheduled because the courthouse was temporarily evacuated after a bomb threat, Grubbs approved the appointment of a forensic psychologist who will test Morva to determine whether he has ever had any brain or head injuries.
However, Grubbs said, if the psychologist can't get the tests done promptly, "I do not want it to be used as grounds for continuance."
Grubbs ruled on several other defense motions Monday. Among them, he:
n Granted attorneys' request that potential jurors fill out a questionnaire at the start of the jury selection process;
n Denied a motion that would have forced the prosecution to tell the defense what factors it plans to rely on in seeking the death penalty;
n Denied a motion that would have allowed the defense to strike more potential jurors than four, the number allowed both the prosecution and the defense; and
n Denied a motion to dismiss the death penalty in this case.
