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Wong is allowed nonlocal jury
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Published: July 1, 2009
WAYNESVILLE
A judge has ruled that a jury that will hear evidence in the killing of a North Carolina trooper won't be local, but the judge hasn't decided whether to move the trial to another county.
Superior Court Judge Nathaniel Poovey ruled late Monday that Edwardo Wong's trial in October won't be heard by a Haywood County panel.
Wong's lawyers have asked that the trial be moved because of pretrial publicity.
Wong, 37, of Ormond Beach, Fla., was charged with murder in the shooting death of Highway Patrol Trooper David Shawn Blanton Jr., 24. Blanton was shot to death in June 2008 when he pulled over a rented car trailer that had no license plate.
Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty if Wong is convicted.
Defense lawyers said that publicity would prevent Wong from getting a fair trial in Haywood County. The lawyers said that Wong was mentioned in 207 broadcasts by an Asheville television station and produced a thick binder of articles from eight Western North Carolina publications.
Prosecutors want a jury to be brought in from Cherokee County, and the defense wants the whole case moved to Gaston County. Poovey said that he didn't want to ask jurors to spend hours each day on a bus.
"It is a lot to ask of someone to spend six weeks in a case," Poovey said.
"It's even more to ask of somebody to spend six weeks in a case when they are there 12 hours a day."
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