Murder Suspect Fails to Get Change of Venue
A paroled rapist charged with killing two college students last year failed Monday to get a judge to move his case from San Luis Obispo, where his attorneys say there has been too much publicity for a fair trial.
Rex Allen Krebs’ public defender, Patricia Ashbaugh, said she will appeal the ruling.
The district attorney’s office is seeking the death penalty for Krebs, who is accused of killing Rachel Newhouse, a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo junior from Irvine, and Aundria Crawford, a Cuesta College sophomore from Clovis. The bodies of the 20-year-olds were found in April 1999 near the remote property in rural Avila that Krebs, then 33, had been renting.
The case generated a storm of publicity in San Luis Obispo.
Krebs’ trial is set to proceed this month in Superior Court before Judge Barry LaBarbera.
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