Behrman trial will stay in Morgan Co.

A Morgan County judge has denied a request in the Behrman case for a change of venue, leaving the Sept. 18 trial in the county where IU student Jill Behrman's body was found three years ago. \nSuperior Court Judge Christopher Burnham ruled Monday that the trial will not be moved to Indianapolis because of the negative influence of local media coverage on the case, as the defense for John R. Myers II, the Elletsville man indicted for killing Jill Behrman, argued. \nDefense attorney Patrick Baker told the court that the publicity surrounding the disappearance and murder of Jill Behrman over the past six years had made it impossible for Myers to receive a fair trial in Morgan County.\nJill Behrman, 19, disappeared May 31, 2000 after she went for a morning bicycle ride in the Bloomington area. An extensive search by the community only recovered her bike. Two years later, in 2003, hunters found Jill's skeletal remains in rural Morgan County, in a wooded area near Paragon, Ind.\nBurnham disagreed with the defense attorney, stating that a change of venue would do nothing to reduce the amount of media coverage for the case, but only shift it "to a new venue," the ruling said. \nThough Baker originally had requested a venue far away from the Bloomington area in his petition, he later asked for the location to be in Marion County. \n"We're pleased with the ruling," Morgan County prosecutor Stephen Sonnega said Wednesday, adding that the prosecution already felt Morgan County was a venue county. "The trial's a go," he said.\nMarilyn Behrman, an IU employee and the mother of Jill, said she was glad that the trial would be staying in Martinsville. \n"The attorney was trying to make Martinsville and Bloomington (seem like) the same community, and that's not the case," Marilyn Behrman said. Moving the case to Indianapolis, she said, would "probably hurt more than it helps."\nShe and her husband had feared that if the case was moved further away from the Bloomington area, it would cause undue stress for not only the investigation, but also for all of the witnesses in the trial. More than 90 people were interviewed by the grand jury in the months leading up to Myers indictment.\nThe next hurdle will be July 5, when the Bloomington The Herald-Times takes its repeated requests for the release of public records related to the Behrman case to court. \nThe hearing will determine whether Behrman's autopsy report should be released to the public.