Rudolph defense may seek change of venue
From Henry Schuster
CNN
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Eric Rudolph
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(CNN) -- Attorneys for accused bomber Eric Rudolph are expected to file a change of venue motion by a Friday deadline, arguing their client cannot get a fair trial in Birmingham, Alabama.
U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith denied a defense motion seeking an extension of the deadline. Smith said the defense failed to prove an extension was warranted.
The defense argued that an opinion survey in Alabama and Tennessee showed a fair trial in the Southeast was not possible.
Rudolph is charged in the 1998 bombing of Birmingham's New Woman All Women Health Clinic, which performs abortions. The blast killed an off-duty police officer and maimed a nurse.
A five-year manhunt led to Rudolph's arrest in May 2003. He also faces charges in a string of bombings in Atlanta, including the Centennial Olympic Park blast during the 1996 Summer Games. A woman died in that explosion.
The defense is not expected to specify a location for the trial in its new motion, according to sources close to the case.
In the earlier motion seeking an extension, Rudolph's attorneys said they had polled two jurisdictions in Alabama and another two in Tennessee to see whether their client can get a fair trial. The trial is scheduled to begin in August.
According to Rudolph's defense team, 42 percent of those polled in the Southern District of Alabama -- which is based in Mobile -- named the case without prompting when asked if they remembered any case involving homicide in the last six years. With minor prompting, 97 percent of those asked were familiar with the case, the defense said.
"When asked about their opinion of the case, 65 percent of Southern Division respondents stated that Mr. Rudolph was 'definitely' or 'probably' guilty," the motion said.
"These numbers demonstrate an intolerable bias against Mr. Rudolph which is inconsistent with any possibility of striking a fair and impartial jury."
The defense attorneys wrote that they found fewer poll respondents in Tennessee were predisposed to finding Rudolph guilty and sentencing him to death but that the numbers were markedly high enough to possibly hinder his right to a fair trial.
Smith denied a defense request to determine if a different opinion prevailed in other regions of the country.
