gchildress@heraldsun.com; 419-6645
CHAPEL HILL — Attorneys for Demario James Atwater, one of the two men accused of kidnapping and killing then-UNC Chapel Hill student body president Eve Carson last year, has asked that their client’s federal trial on a carjacking charge be moved out-of-state.
In a motion filed Dec. 11 in U.S. District Court, federal public defender Gregory Davis and co-counsel Kimberly C. Stevens said the onslaught of media coverage since Carson’s body was discovered in March 2008 has made it impossible for Atwater to receive a fair trial.
“When it was quickly discovered that the victim was Eve Carson, the young, accomplished, beloved Student Body President at North Carolina’s flagship university, the media latched onto the story and has not let go,” the attorneys wrote.
In addition, the attorneys said Atwater’s criminal background has “been the subject of thousands of newspaper articles, television news stories, radio broadcasts and internet reports” that have served to taint the potential jury pool.
“A fair trial in the Middle District, or in any other North Carolina District, is not possible,” the attorneys wrote.
Atwater could receive the death penalty if convicted on the charge of carjacking resulting in death.
The attorneys also cited in their motion a statewide survey showing that 80 percent of North Carolina respondents have knowledge of the case and that 53 percent already believe Atwater is guilty of killing Carson.
In addition, 52 percent of those surveyed said they believe Atwater should be sentenced to death if he is found guilty of murdering Carson.
While the attorneys are making the right argument, UNC law professor Richard Myers said convincing a judge to change the venue in a trial is difficult.
“Judges don’t like to do it,” Myers said. “However, this is one of the highest profile cases in the state in a long time.”
Myers said judges must balance holding the trial locally, weighing the inconvenience of moving the trial, against the danger of a defendant receiving pre-trial publicity so prejudicial that it makes it impossible to receive a fair trial.
Investigators believe and another young man, Laurence Lovette Jr., kidnapped Carson from her home off West Rosemary Street, drove her to various ATMs where they withdrew money using her bank card, and then shot and killed her in a residential neighborhood near campus.
Both Atwater and Lovette are facing first-degree murder charges in state court, but Lovette has not been indicted by a federal grand jury, possibly because he is not eligible for the death penalty.
Lovette was a juvenile — under 18 — when the crime was committed.
