The next phase of the trial against Devin Parker, the only man indicted in the murder of two University graduate students in 2007, will be held Tuesday morning at Baton Rouge City Court.
According to prosecutor Steve Danielson, the defense will argue for a change of venue.
“[Defense attorney Jim Holt] doesn’t think his client will get a fair trial in East Baton Rouge Parish,” Danielson said.
Danielson said if the judge grants the defense’s motion, the case would go to the Louisiana Supreme Court.
If the case gets to the Louisiana Supreme Court, Danielson said the court would decide between two options — either move the case to another jurisdiction or keep it in East Baton Rouge Parish and pick jury members from another jurisdiction.
Danielson said a change-of-venue argument seems premature.
“Typically, that’s something usually argued after you’ve made some attempts to pick a jury,” he said. “Once you start jury selection, you can ask things like, ‘Have you formed any opinions about my client?’ At this point, we have no idea because we haven’t even started to pick a jury yet.”
Danielson said he doubts the defense’s claim.
“I don’t think his allegations are enough to justify his motion,” he said.
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.
Police failed to secure an indictment for the two other men they believed were involved.
“I feel, personally, we had enough evidence to indict all three, but obviously the grand jury didn’t feel the same way,” Maj. Lawrence Rabalais, LSU Police Department Chief, told The Daily Reveille on Oct. 21, 2009. “It is frustrating. It was a gambit of well-experienced, seasoned veterans that were involved in this investigation, and I think if you ask any of them who were involved, they would tell you when we arrested those three people, we had the right people.”
—————
Contact Sarah Eddington at [email protected]