By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
NEVADA, Mo. — A change of venue to Jasper County, ordered by the Missouri Supreme Court in a Nevada double-murder case, will remain in place despite objections of the attorney for teen defendant Garrett M. Mason.
Mason, 18, is facing two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action in the May 24, 2009, stabbing deaths of Anne Reed, 18, and Kylie Leyva, 14, at a Nevada apartment complex.
Jasper County Circuit Judge David Dally was assigned the case last year by the state’s high court when public defender Joe Zuzul asked for a change of judge and a change of venue from Vernon County because of pretrial publicity. The high court switched the venue to Jasper County.
At a hearing Wednesday before Dally in Nevada, Zuzul raised an objection to the venue change that was granted. He said selecting jurors in Jasper County would be no less problematic than selecting them in Vernon County, since most of the publicity in the case has come from The Joplin Globe and Joplin television stations.
“So my suggestion would be not to move to the south, but to the north or east,” Zuzul said.
Vernon County Prosecutor Lynn Ewing acknowledged that the state had some initial concerns with moving the venue to Jasper County but said he no longer objects to the choice.
Dally declined to grant Zuzul’s motion, stating that in his experience, it has not been difficult to select jurors in Jasper County who have not been prejudiced by pretrial publicity, even in cases that originate there.
Three Nevada teens testified at Mason’s preliminary hearing in August of last year that the defendant went to Reed’s apartment the day of the killings to try to get her and Leyva to stop sending insulting text messages to Amanda Sandoval.
Mason had been on a camping trip to Stockton Lake with fellow teens Sandoval, Levi Dipman and Allen Harper on the weekend in question. Dipman was Sandoval’s ex-fiance at the time and had formerly dated Reed. Harper also was a former boyfriend of Sandoval. Mason was depicted at the hearing as a teen somewhat on the fringe of the group who also had been a friend of the two victims.
Trial date
The only matter other than change of venue discussed at Wednesday’s hearing was the designation of a trial date. Jan. 3, 2011, was tentatively set for the opening of what is expected to be about a five-day trial.
