Trial Date Set in Murder of Cobb AU Student

Published March 7, 2010 at 9:28 a.m.

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) The trial for a man accused of murdering an Auburn University student from Georgia has been tentatively scheduled for Sept. 21 but a judge is still deciding on its location.

Circuit Court Judge Jacob A. Walker III set the date during a hearing a day after the two-year anniversary of the death of freshman Lauren Burk. The hearing was held to debate the defense's motion for a change of venue.

Walker said he would review the material entered Friday by the defense and prosecution but gave no indication of when he would rule.

Defense attorney Jeremy Armstrong submitted 64 articles, specifically from the Opelika-Auburn News, to support his claim that Lockhart, 25, of Smiths Station can not receive a fair trial in Lee County.

He said the ``bombardment'' of media coverage has made the county ``highly prejudicial'' to his client. Lockhart faces charges of capital murder during a kidnapping, capital murder during an attempted rape and capital murder during a robbery in connection with Burk's death on March 4, 2008.

Armstrong called John Walker, the newspaper's Web site coordinator, to explain the amount of attention stories regarding Lockhart received on the newspaper's Web site.

One story regarding the investigation into Burk's death was accessed more than 6,000 times between March 1, 2008, and Jan. 31, 2010, Walker said. However, based on documents subpoenaed by defense counsel, Walker was unable to say where those access points were made.

Walker said the Web site had 213,399 viewers from the city of Auburn and 196,386 viewers from AU between March 5, 2008, and Dec. 8, 2009, but those numbers indicate the number of computers that accessed the site, not specific articles.

District attorney Nick Abbett said only one Lee County case has been moved to another county in the last 20 years. He said Lee County residents can be truthful and put aside what they read or heard and be fair and impartial in the case.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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