A high-profile local murder case was granted a change of venuefor a retrial Monday after Circuit Judge Mike Taylor said extensivemedia coverage throughout the trial and subsequent legal drama willmake it difficult to seat an impartial jury in Lincoln County.

A place and date for the retrial of Michael Leggett, 32, who ischarged with murder in the October 2006 beating death of JewellDuane Douglas, have not been set. Taylor said granting the motionwas the prudent course, especially when seating a jury was actuallya problem in the first trial.

Taylor upheld the defense’s contention that selecting a fairjury could be an issue since the community has already been exposedto pre-trial, trial and post-trial coverage, so all the detailedwitness accounts have already been published for consumption by thegeneral populace.

“The court notes that coverage of a trial is much moreproblematic than pre-trial coverage,” Taylor said. “It exposespotential jury members to details of the case… where pre-trialcoverage includes no detailed account by witnesses.”

Assistant District Attorney Diane Jones told the court that thestate has no opposition to a jury being chosen in anotherjurisdiction and being brought to Lincoln County for the trial,which could be a possibility as opposed to shipping the case out toanother county.

Taylor said cost would probably play a major factor in whetherthe jury will be impaneled elsewhere and brought in, or if theentire case will be taken to another venue.

A trial date should be set by Monday, Taylor said.

In the defense’s motion for an expert witness to give a secondopinion in the cause of death, Taylor said he does not have enoughinformation to make a decision yet. He said the motion “lackedspecificity” since no indication was given in the motion what thecost would be to the county, nor exactly what services the expertwould offer.

Defense counsel will be allowed to research and provide a morespecific request with a schedule of fees, Taylor said, and thestate will be given 30 days to respond to the request.

Taylor also overruled a defense motion to disqualify theDistrict Attorney’s office based on a theory that double jeopardyrules apply under previous case law, as well as a prosecutionmotion to reconsider the decision to grant a new trial.