Ex-DPS trooper in Sandra Bland may seek to move trial
The defense team for Brian Encinia, the then-DPS trooper who arrested Sandra Bland, may ask for the trial to be moved outside Waller County.
A grand jury indicted Encinia, 31, in January on misdemeanor perjury charges for reporting after the July 2014 traffic stop that he ordered Bland out of the car to safely continue an investigation. Encinia has pleaded not guilty.
A defense attorney, Larkin Eakin Jr., said Thursday that the legal team might ask state District Judge Michael McCaig Jr. to move the trial, which has not yet been scheduled, "due to the publicity in this area."
Eakin estimated the likelihood as "better than a 50-50 chance" but said the decision will be made jointly with Encinia and his other two attorneys, Chip Lewis and Alicia O'Neill.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/houston/article/Ex-DPS-trooper-in-Sandra-Bland-may-seek-to-move-9969533.php