Torture Suspect Seeks to Move Trial

A police officer accused of torturing a Haitian immigrant asked for his trial to be moved outside of New York City. “Media coverage has cast the defendant as the epitome of police brutality,” said the motion for change of venue in behalf of Officer Justin Volpe. Volpe, 25, is accused of a racially motivated assault on Abner Louima, whom he allegedly sodomized with a wooden stick on Aug. 9. The motion was filed in a state appeals court. All four accused officers are due back in a state court on Dec. 15, unless federal prosecutors take over the case to pursue it under U.S. civil rights laws.