County fights Santa Fe trial site change
Publicity of shooting has not tainted jurors, prosecutors tell judge
GALVESTON — Publicity surrounding the mass shooting at Santa Fe High School last year has not created bias among potential jurors for the pending capital murder trial of a student charged in the case, prosecutors said.
In arguing not to move the trial to another location, Galveston County prosecutors Friday cited statements from local politicians to support their argument that media publicity will not taint the pool of jurors.
Santa Fe student Dimitrios Pagourtzis, who was 17 at the time, has been charged with capital murder in the shooting last May that killed 10 people and wounded 13.
Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady submitted sworn affidavits from the mayors of League City, Galveston, Dickinson and La Marque, all of whom argue that their constituents — who may be selected to serve on a jury — have not shown any prejudice against Pagourtzis.
“Based on my experience in public service to and familiarity with the citizens of Galveston County, I do not believe that there is a prejudice against the defendant such that he cannot obtain a fair and impartial trial here,” Galveston Mayor Jim Yarbrough wrote in his affidavit.
The prosecution also cited the
scarce details provided about the May 18 shooting by local law enforcement and the Santa Fe Independent School District to counter the defense’s assertion that the “intrusive publicity” has affected the impartiality of potential jurors.
Roady referred to a section of a previous Houston Chronicle article that compared the lack of transparency in the aftermath of the May 18 shooting with the trove of information released after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Fla.
“Considering the lack of information made publicly available by government and law enforcement directly involved in this case ... there is no indication here that the initial news conferences somehow created a coercive governmental force that could irreparably influence the potential jury pool and prevent the defendant from receiving a fair trial,” Roady wrote in his argument.
The prosecution noted a recent U.S. Supreme Court case that involved former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, in which a venue change was denied. In that case, the Supreme Court “has not held that juror exposure to news accounts of the crime alone presumptively deprives the defendant of due process.”
Roady declined to comment any further about the arguments against a venue change, saying that he would let the filings speak for themselves and that prosecutors are restricted from commenting due to the ongoing investigation.
Nick Poehl, one of the defense attorneys for Pagourtzis who filed the initial motion for a venue change on Jan. 8, declined to comment in detail about the prosecution’s response. Poehl said they were “looking forward to oral arguments” on a potential venue change.
In their argument for a venue change, Pagourtzis’ attorneys had previously submitted a spreadsheet citing hundreds of news stories about the Sante Fe shooting since May 18 to underscore its argument that the media attention has stirred biased attention toward the case.
A status conference for the Pagourtzis case was held Monday in the 122nd District Court in Galveston. Judge John Ellisor said he would make a decision on a venue change after he has reviewed the prosecution and defense’s arguments.
Poehl said after that hearing that he did not yet have a specific jurisdiction in mind for a venue change, but ruled out Harris County, saying the “law does not favor” contiguous counties.
The defense has said that the prospect of a trial date set before the end of the year is unlikely, in part due to the uncertainty on when it will receive computer evidence seized from Pagourtzis and family members that has yet to be submitted for discovery by federal agencies investigating the case, including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.