A jury trial date has been set for June 27 for the double homicide case against Devin Parker, the only man indicted in the murder of two University graduate students in 2007.
A status hearing was held Tuesday to determine a trial date, as well as discuss several other issues at hand. Jim Holt, Parker’s defense attorney, had his motion to move the trial to another jurisdiction deferred.
Holt argued that his client would not receive a fair and impartial jury because of extensive pretrial publicity.
The trial has generated at least 10 articles from The Advocate in addition to numerous references on different news stations, according to Holt.
“This incident occurred in 2007, and it’s still a hot topic in Baton Rouge,” Holt said during the hearing.
Parker was one of three men arrested for the murders of Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma, 31, and Kiran Kumar Allam, 33, University graduate students from India who were shot and killed in their Edward Gay apartment Dec. 13, 2007, during an apparent home invasion robbery.
Prosecutor Steve Danielson said Holt’s argument lacked sufficient merit.
“Every major case that comes through here has pretrial publicity,” he argued at the hearing. “If this motion is focused on those 10 articles, the defense has woefully failed in carrying the burden of proof.”
Danielson also said the motion was premature, adding that the only time to really gauge the jury’s attitudes was after actually speaking to jury members.
“We haven’t even picked a trial date yet,” he said.
Danielson also brought up the case against Derrick Todd Lee, the Baton Rouge serial killer arrested in 2003, adding that Lee’s trial didn’t receive a change of venue.
“I think everyone in this courtroom knows who Derrick Todd Lee is,” he said. “This case is nowhere near that level.”
Judge Richard “Chip” Moore ultimately decided to defer the issue until the time of jury selection.
Moore agreed that it was too early to determine if the jury pool has been tampered with.
“I don’t know if it is a problem,” he said. “I’ve had a few cases that have generated more attention than this one.”
Moore added that Holt can raise the argument again once jury selection has begun.
Two additional status hearings are scheduled before the jury trial date, one Feb. 10 and another April 14.
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Contact Sarah Eddington at [email protected]