Attorneys for Kenneth Alonza Hodges, III yesterday asked that a change
in venue be set in the retrial of their client. They also filed several
other motions, seeking to quash some earlier testimony. After listening
to arguments for nearly three hours, Judge William Wellons took the
matter under advisement. He did, however, set a court date for the case
during the last week of January 2008. He declined to rule on whether
the case will be heard in the Halifax County Courtroom or whether a new
jury will be brought in from outside the county.
  The case was originally tried in Halifax County Circuit Court back in
October of 2003 at which time Hodges was convicted of the September 4,
2002  first degree murder of 24 year old Shelly Marie Jackson. Hodges
was sentenced to 32 years in jail on the murder count with another
three years added for the use of a firearm in the commission of a
felony.
But in September of 2006 the Virginia Supreme Court ordered a new trial
after finding that the lower court had committed a reversible error in
admitting testimony that the victim, Jackson, had told her cousin she
was going to testify against Hodges in a drug case that was set for
trial later in September of 2002. The high court held that this
statement lacked relevance because the Commonwealth relied upon
successive speculative inferences to conclude that Hodges knew of the
victim's intent to testify against him and therefore had a motive to
kill her.
Yesterday defense attorneys Bill Watson and Glenn Berger told the court
that the case was ìa high profile oneî in which news reports of the
case would likely influence local jurors and they asked for a change of
venue.