The former chief executive at Louisiana’s state-backed insurance company lost a move Tuesday to have his criminal trial moved to Jefferson Parish, as a judge ruled instead that he will stand trial next year in Baton Rouge.Terry Lisotta, former CEO of Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., has pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of theft. He’s accused of improperly spending about $30,000 of the state-backed firm’s money.Lisotta’s lawyer, David Courcelle, argued in a hearing that the charges should be thrown out because they should have been filed in Jefferson Parish, where Citizens is based. Prosecutors from the state attorney general’s office argued that Baton Rouge is the proper place because Citizens is overseen by the Baton Rouge-based state Department of Insurance.State District Judge Richard Anderson rejected Courcelle’s motion without explanation.The judge also set a trial date of March 22.Assistant Attorney General David Caldwell said later that discussions about a plea deal with Lisotta have not progressed. He said he’s expecting the case to wind up in a trial of up to two weeks.Courcelle has said that Lisotta’s spending occurred with approval and knowledge of the governing boards of Citizens and two other firms he worked for: Louisiana Automobile Insurance Plan, the state’s high-risk auto pool, and the Property Insurance Association of Louisiana, which managed Citizens and LAIP.Among other allegations, Lisotta is accused of submitting fictional expense accounts and getting reimbursed $3,321 for insurance conferences he did not attend or did not pay for. One of the criminal counts accuses Lisotta of getting $1,495 in Citizens reimbursements for fees to attend the Property-Casualty Industry’s conference in New York — though investigators say Lisotta, as a guest speaker, wasn’t charged the fee.—-Contact The Daily Reveille news staff at [email protected]