SALT LAKE CITY – SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Attorneys for the man charged in the 2002 abduction of Elizabeth Smart say he can't get a fair trial in Utah.
Brian David Mitchell is scheduled for a November trial in Salt Lake City's U.S. District Court.
On Friday, his public defenders asked a judge to move the trial elsewhere.
In court papers, they contend Mitchell has a constitutional right to trial by jurors who cannot be influenced by public passions or prejudice.
The kidnapping of Smart, then 14, and her recovery in 2003 drew heavy local and national media attention.
The 56-year-old Mitchell is charged with kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines.
His estranged wife, Wanda Barzee, already has pleaded guilty to charges in state and federal court.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
