Lawyers for the Blendon Township police officer who shot and killed a pregnant woman in a parking lot in August of 2023 are asking a judge to move his November trial out of Franklin County.
Connor Grubb’s attorneys filed a motion Wednesday for a change of venue to a different, unspecified court.
Grubb is charged with murder, felonious assault and involuntary manslaughter in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. He was indicted after he shot and killed 21-year-old Ta'Kiya Young outside of a Kroger grocery store. The charges are doubled because Young was pregnant when she was killed.
Grubb has pleaded not guilty. He'd been on paid leave from the time of the shooting until earlier this month when he was moved to unpaid leave. The Blendon Township Board of Trustees said at the time that budget cuts from a police levy failure in November were the reason for the change in Grubb's employment status.
Grubb’s attorney argued potential jurors in Franklin County have heard too much about the case to judge him fairly.
One of his attorneys said, "...this county has been so saturated with misinformation, the pronouncement of guilty with facts underlying this case that it is impossible for Connor Grubb to receive a fair trail before a jury who only hears facts through the evidence properly admitted through the trial."
The defense is asking for an oral hearing on the matter.
Prosecutors have not yet responded to the motion and the judge hasn't made a ruling.
The defense motion includes exhibits of posts on social media sites with comments about the case and search results showing that local media has covered the case.
"A simple Google search of the defendant's name yields 1.1 million (results) in 20 seconds, and they are all from local news stations," the motion states.
The motion also mentions how many trials the judge in the court, David Young, has overseen involving police officers as defendants.
"Defense counsel submits that the court should consider the pre-trial publicity and public's knowledge of these circumstances when coming to a decision about this particular case. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the audience, this court, 7A of 345 S. High St., has seen three police shooting trials already. This courthouse has jurisdiction over seven police-involved shooting trials, so the nature of the case is anything but typical," the motion states.
The motion also cites case law stating for a change of venue stating, "the defendant must make a clear and manifest showing that pretrial publicity was so pervasive and prejudicial that an attempt to seat a jury would be a vain act."
The defense attorneys argued that even questioning potential local jurors about their knowledge of the case would create bias against Grubb.
