San Diego
A Superior Court judge said Wednesday that he would decide today whether the multiple murder trials of a former Spring Valley carpet cleaner should be moved from San Diego County because of excessive pretrial publicity.
After three hours of arguments by attorneys in the change of venue motion for David Allen Lucas, Judge Franklin B. Orfield said he will announce his decision this morning after reviewing several weeks worth of evidence. The items submitted include numerous press reports and broadcasts about Lucas’ arrest and public opinion polls concerning the case.
Lucas, 30, who faces the death penalty in two separate cases, is charged with six counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. The change of venue motion is for both cases.
His first trial, scheduled to begin June 4, involves the 1979 slaying of Suzanne Jacobs, 31, and her 3-year-old son, Colin, in Normal Heights, and the 1981 killing in Spring Valley of 30-year-old real estate saleswoman Gayle Garcia.
A second trial has been set to begin Aug. 25 and involves the November, 1984, slaying of Anne Catherine Swanke, 22, of San Carlos; the October, 1984, deaths of Amber Fisher, 3, and her baby sitter, Rhonda Strang, 24, in Lakeside, and the attempted murder of a Seattle woman, Jody Santiago, 30.
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